A Journey to be True and Keep Trying
by Cyllya
Summary: Rating is for the goriness in Chapter 15. This is UNFINISHED, but I'm posting it for those of you who wanted to know more about Vanessa and Levia from 'The Next Creation'


****

Digimon  
A Journey to be True and Keep Trying

by Seruyamon  
(Cyllya)

Notes: I'm only posting this so you'll have a teeny bit of background info on Vanessa and Levia. THIS IS NOT FINISHED, and I don't know if I'm going to get around to finishing it.

****

Chapter 1

Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi was one that rarely slept in, but he'd had a long night of trying to translate Digimon coding. He'd tentatively recognized three common characters before falling asleep at his computer at about 4:30 A.M. Tentomon woke up long enough to drag him to his bed and check to make sure his bedroom door was locked.

"Izzy? Izzy? Izzy?!" Tentomon asked, trying to shake him awake, "IZZY?!"

Izzy's face was buried in his pillow, so his mumbling was even less understandable than it would have been.

"It's 10:00!" Tentomon shrieked, "Oh no! Now it's 10:01! Get up now, or I will be forced to take drastic measures under assumption that you are _not_ Izzy!"

There was no response. 

"Take this!" Tentomon exclaimed, "Super Shocker!" 

"Yahh!" Izzy cried after being hit by Tentomon's weakest possible Super Shocker. He jumped up and shoved his finger in Tentomon's face. He demanded, "What was your theory for justifying that?!"

"What have you done with Izzy, you imposter?!" Tentomon demanded. He grabbed Izzy's shirt collar and shook him.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Izzy cried.

"Izzy, honey? Are you okay in there?"

"Your mom!" Tentomon cried quietly. He flew quickly into the closest. 

Izzy practically threw himself to the door so he could open it before his mom asked about the lock. He said, "Yeah, Mom. I'm fine."

"Oh, okay?" his mom said, "Is there someone else in here?"

"Uh, no," Izzy stuttered.

"Well, I thought I heard you talking to someone," his mom said, "Something about it being ten o'clock…."

"No, I just got frustrated with my computer's clock and was yelling at it," Izzy said, "I got it fixed though."

"Oh, that's good," his mom said, "Come eat breakfast, okay?"

"Okay, I'm coming," Izzy said.

"Don't forget to bring me back some," Tentomon said after Izzy's mom left.

"Do you still think I'm an imposter?" Izzy asked.

"Only a little," Tentomon said. "You came up with lies for my yelling so easily, and you were acting normal last night—save that a normal person would go to bed. Plus I doubt anyone could come in here and replace you while we were asleep and not have me notice. And if you bring me breakfast then—Izzy? Izzy?"

Izzy seemed to be staring blankly at the carpet.

"Izzy?" Tentomon asked, "If you really need sleep that bad, you could at least go back to your bed and close your eyes…Izzy? Tentomon to Izzy-mon! Do read me?"

"Huh?" Izzy asked.

"You zoned out again, Izzy," Tentomon said worryingly, "Why _do_ you do that?"

"Uh, I…I'm just a bit tired still," Izzy said.

"If you say so," Tentomon said, not really believing him.

Due to being uncomfortable with Tentomon's question, Izzy left the room a bit more quickly than intended. Tentomon sighed and went back to the closet.

At the kitchen table, Izzy and his parents were unusually quiet. Izzy found the silence unnerving. He felt his parents were hiding something. They stared at their food, so Izzy scooped every other forkful of scrambled eggs or sausage into a zippy bag that was in his lap. He and his father finished eating about the same time. His mother seemed surprised.

"Would either of you like seconds?" she asked, "There's plenty more. You're a growing boy, Izzy, so you need to eat more."

Feeling that he was still hungry, Izzy accepted more food while his dad excused himself from the table and head toward the front door.

While Izzy was eating, Tentomon used the floor of the closet as a drum. He heard the door open and close very slowly and quietly. He figured he should be quiet if Izzy was. He stuck his head out the closet door and nearly had a heart attack. 

It wasn't Izzy who had entered the room; it was his father. Tentomon squeaked fearfully and quickly returned his head to closet. Izzy's dad turned in response to the squeak and saw the closet door jarred. Suspicious, he walked over and pushed the door open farther. 

****

Chapter 2

He saw a pile of clothes, a stack of computer magazines, and some of Izzy's clothes that were hung up. He took one more look around, shook his head, and picked up the pile of clothes. He dumped the clothes in the bathroom's laundry hamper and left.

"Pabu!" Pabumon popped up from beneath the clothes, hopped out of the hamper, and digivolved to Motimon. He carefully inspected the hallway and began to hop back to Izzy's room. Someone quickly came from the kitchen and startled him so much that he jumped and bumped his head on the hallway's ceiling.

"Motimon?" Izzy asked. He caught the little pink Digimon as he ricocheted off the ceiling, "What are you doing out here? Why did you de-digivolve?"

"Don't scare me like that, Izzy!" Motimon said too loudly. He clamped his paws over his mouth and made sure no one had heard. Izzy went into his room and looked even more confused.

"You've disturbed my living environment," he said jokingly while appearing serious.

"Your father is a snoop!" Motimon exclaimed after Izzy closed the door.

"What?!" Izzy demanded.

"He is!" Motimon said, "He came and poked around while you were eating! I had to de-digivolve to Pabumon to keep from being found. I pulled clothes off the hangers in your closet and hid in the pile, which he threw in the bathroom basket… Motimon, digivolve to…Tentomon!"

"My dad wouldn't come in here and poke around," Izzy said.

"Then why was he tiptoeing and looking around?" Tentomon asked.

"I…I don't know…" Izzy said, feeling defeated.

"Well, we'll just have to be more careful from now—Izzy?" Tentomon asked, "Izzy, have you zoned out again?!" He waited and muttered, "I guess that's a 'yes.' Izzy? Devidramon are attacking!"

"Huh?! What?!" Izzy demanded.

"You really need to stop that," Tentomon informed.

"Sorry," Izzy said. 

"Oh, great, food!" Tentomon exclaimed as he received the zippy bag full of breakfast. He wolfed it down while Izzy went to his computer, saved his work from the previous night, and logged onto the Internet. 

He said, "Hey, I got an email from Gennai."

Before he could open the email, his mom knocked on the door and said, "Izzy? There was a package in the mail for you."

"Hmm," Izzy thought. He thanked his mom for the package, and she left. He sat on his bed and inspected it. It was about a foot long, a half foot wide, and four or five inches high. It was neatly covered in the standard brown paper. It was addressed to Koushiro Izumi, but there was no return address.

"What if it's a trap?" Tentomon asked, "Oh, never mind, look."

In the lower right-hand corner, there was a tiny drawing of a familiar face.

"Gennai," Izzy realized.

"A box and an email in the same day," Tentomon said, "What are the odds?"

"About two in seventy-three-thousand-five…. Pretty low," Izzy said. He opened the package, revealing…magazines. He looked at the one on top, "Chips Illustrated? I have this issue. They're all computer magazines." He discovered seven of them before finding what looked like an instruction booklet for something called PMTD.

"What's that?" Tentomon questioned.

"I don't know," Izzy admitted. He removed the book and saw a note, a bag of screws, and pieces of metal.

"Izzy," the note said, "This is the Particle Molecular Transportation Device. I thought it would be useful if I wanted to send you something. The magazines are decoys if your parents ask about this package. Follow the instructions in the booklet and plug the PMTD into your computer. I may email you something. –Gennai."

Izzy put the note aside and began putting the machine together. Tentomon read the note and looked less confused. After a few minutes, Izzy said, "I'm going to go get a drink. Do you want something?"

"No, thank you," Tentomon said. He heard Izzy and his mom say something after he left he left the room. When he was sure Izzy was in the kitchen, he heard something else out in the hall and pressed his ear against the door.

"I doubt we should worry," his mother's voice said, "He's a smart boy, and he thinks a lot. Maybe he's just thinking aloud."

"Maybe," his father said, "But he's beginning to worry me. That second voice sounds different. It's hard to tell _how_ it's different though…."

"What?" his mom asked.

"Maybe…oh, I don't know," his dad said, "My guess is a bit odd. If I'm right, I won't know what to do…. Should we think it's cute or get upset?"

"First things first," his mom said, "What's 'it?'"

"Well…I think it may be a girl, and—oh, hi, Izzy."

Tentomon backed away from the door, and Izzy came in after saying hi. Izzy had a glass of soda, which he sat on his desk. He wordlessly continued his work.

"I really think you should use that noggin of yours to come up with a way to sound-proof this room," Tentomon whispered.

"I know," Izzy said, "We just have to be quiet."

"Yeah, but…" Tentomon mumbled as Izzy took a drink, "If I'm correct, I believe your parents have mistaken me for you girlfriend."

Izzy abruptly spit his soda out and started choking. 

Tentomon dodged the flying soda and cried, "Hey! Watch where you're spitting!"

"My girlfriend?!" Izzy demanded.

"Shush! If you yell things like that," Tentomon whispered, "You'll just make yourself look more guilty."

Izzy stayed silent, save the quiet grumbling about reputations, girlfriends, trust, and parents. Tentomon laughed at him slightly. Izzy continued his work.

****

Chapter 3

After finishing the PMTD, which looked like a mini metal gazebo with an odd-colored floor, Izzy hooked it up to his computer and opened Gennai's email.

"Greetings! I've made a discovery!" the email said, "There were two more children who saw the strange Digi-incident four years ago! That means two more DigiDestined—"

Izzy struggled not to spit his drink out again.

"—They are both currently in your world, Odaiba to be exact, but their Digimon are in the DigiWorld. Be careful—I have heard about another evil Digimon that seeks to defeat you. It has heard of these two children.

"Here's all the information I have on the two new children: they're both girls, I think their ages are about eleven and ten, and one of their names starts with a V…or was that her crest? Or both? Anyway, good luck in your search for them. –Gennai. PS: Don't forget to check the attachment!"

"Attachment?" Izzy wondered. He clicked on the attachment's link, and a light on the PMTD flashed as it beeped three times. A short flat cylinder of light scanned down quickly. It went up and back down as if bouncing. Izzy's and Tentomon's eyes followed its movement.

In the bottom of the machine, something started to appear. It was too transparent to identify at first, but as the cylinder of light moved through it, it darkened.

"Two Digivices and two Tags," Izzy said, "but no Crests."

"The Crests are probably in the DigiWorld," Tentomon, "We'd better tell the others about this."

"Right," Izzy agreed.

***

"TAI!" Tai's mom yelled, waking him up.

"Just five more minutes," Tai mumbled. His mom wasn't even in the room, so she couldn't hear him.

"Tai," Kari said, "You need to get up anyway."

"But it's only…" Tai looked at the clock and waited for his eyes to focus, "noon."

"TAI!" his mom screamed, "Your friend is on the phone!"

Tai jumped out of bed and tried to run to the door, but his blanket got tangled around his legs and left him falling flat on his face. He dug his fingertips into the carpet and dragged himself to the door. He stumbled up, opened the door, and tried to run out.

Kari, Gatomon, and Agumon heard a lot of banging sounds after Tai left the room. They stared at the doorway for a moment.

"Gee, I hope that doesn't leave a mark," Agumon said.

"Hmm," Gatomon said.

"Here" Tai said weakly as he fell on his back next to the table that held the phone. He struggled to lift his arm, due to the fact he'd bruised his elbow on the way to phone. His mom sighed, handed him the receiver, and walked into the living room. He said, "Hi?"

"Hello, Tai," Izzy said.

"Hey, Izzy, what's up?" Tai asked.

"There's something I need to tell everyone," Izzy said, "Get Kari, Matt, and T.K. I'll call Mimi, Joe, and Sora. We'll meet at the park."

"Okay," Tai said, trying to sound upbeat, though sensing trouble. They hung up. Tai dialed Matt's number. 

"Hello?" T.K. answered.

"Hi, T.K.," Tai said, "This is Tai. Tell Matt that we all need to meet Izzy at the park, okay?"

"Okay, Tai," T.K. said.

"Bye," Tai said.

"See ya."

They hung up, and Tai went back to his bed room.

"Agumon, Kari, Gatomon," Tai said, "Izzy needs us to meet him at the park."

"Maybe there's trouble," Gatomon cried.

"I hope not," Agumon said.

"Come on, let's hurry," Tai said.

****

Chapter 4

Tai, Kari, Agumon, and Gatomon met Matt, T.K., Tsunomon, and Patamon on the way to the park. They headed to the spot in the patch of trees at the edge of the park. When they got there, they saw Sora, Biyomon, and Tentomon sitting on a bench. Izzy was standing next to the bench. His hands were clenched to fists and shaking. He looked unusually anxious.

"Hi, everyone," Matt said, "Hey, Izzy, what's up with you?"

"I don't want to repeat myself," Izzy explained calmly, "but this is major news, and I feel I'll exploded if I can't get it out soon."

"Just wait for Mimi and Joe," Sora said.

"Yeah, just two more people," Izzy said shakily.

"Is it bad news?" Tai asked.

"No," Izzy said, "Well…part of it is…but it's good for the most part."

"Can you tell us now?" T.K. pleaded, "You don't have to tell us the details until Mimi and Joe get here."

"No," Izzy said, "I'll be mobbed by questions."

"I won't mob you, I promise."

"No."

"Pretty, pretty, _pretty_, please?"

"No."

"Puh-leeeeeeeese?"

"No."

"If anyone mobs you with questions," Patamon stood and boldly put his paws on his hips, "Then I'll Boom Bubble 'em!"

"No."

"I have an idea!" Tentomon piped up. He took a piece of paper and a pen from Izzy's backpack, "Since Izzy has prevented me from telling you, I'll draw pictures relating to the big news, and you try to guess what it is."

"Now you're playing Pictionary?" Izzy demanded.

Tentomon place the paper on an empty section of the bench. He studied Izzy's Digivice and drew a reasonable picture of it in the middle of the top of the paper.

"A Digivice," Tai said.

Beneath it, Tentomon wrote, "8+2=10." This stumped everyone.

"Digivices are learning how to do math problems!" T.K. exclaimed.

Tentomon smacked himself on the forehead. He said, "No!" 

Kari started to say something. She said, "Never mind."

Tentomon gave up and drew eight stick figures in a line. They varied in height, and he gave him characteristics of all the humans in the group.

"It's all of us," Matt identified.

Tentomon nodded and drew two more plain faceless stick figures in the line with the others. Everyone stared blankly at the picture.

"I don't get it," Tai said.

"Me neither," Biyomon said.

"I think it's rather accurate," Izzy commented.

"Is…" Kari hesitated, "Is…it about two people?"

Tentomon wrote a big, "YES! BUT…" at the bottom of the paper. He waited for everyone to catch on. Seeing that they didn't, he drew a sloppy picture of all eight Digimon beneath their human partners.

"All us Digimon…" Gatomon said.

Tentomon drew a circle containing a question mark beneath the two other stick figures. No one got anything, so he drew the symbol for everyone's crest below their Digimon. He drew question marks in the symbols' swirl pattern beneath the two circled question marks.

"Something about crests," Agumon realized.

"Two unknown crests?" Tsunomon said, "Or the crests of, uh, questions?"

Tentomon began, "Hardly the second one but—"

"Two new DigiDestined?"

"Mimi?" Izzy asked.

Sure enough, Mimi and Palmon standing right behind everyone. Joe, who had Gomamon on his head, was right behind her.

"Finally!" Tentomon exclaimed.

"With unknown Digimon?" Palmon asked.

"And unknown crests?" Mimi suggested.

"She's right!" Tentomon exclaimed, "I can't believe it! She's really right!"

"What? Do I look dumb?" Mimi demanded with her hands on her hips.

"Well, actually," Tentomon began. Izzy's hand was quickly clamped over his face.

"Of course not!" Izzy stuttered, "You look very intelligent. Tentomon was going to say that, since you could figure out his pictures when nobody else could, that you must be even smarter than you look." He released his companion and asked, "Right, Tentomon?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Oh, that's nice," Mimi said.

"Can you tell us all the news now?" T.K. cried and clung to Izzy's shirt, "Pretty, pretty, please? With sugar and sprinkles on top…and a cherry. Oh, heck, a whole cherry _tree_! And pepperoni pizza and cheeseburgers?! Pretty PLEASE?!"

"Yeah, okay, fine," Izzy said.

"Yay!" T.K. cried. He helped Tentomon pry Patamon off his foot.

"Okay…" Izzy took a big breath. He said, "Here's what Gennai told me: there are two _more_ DigiDestined, they're both girls, they're both about ten, they're both in Odaiva, their Digimon partners are in the DigiWorld, and there's _another_ evil Digimon out to destroy us again, and he knows about the ninth and tenth children, so we have to move fast before he finds them," all in one breath. He added, "And Gennai sent me their Tags and Digivices."

His companions blinked in surprise as they absorbed all the info.

"So…uh, let's get looking!" Tai exclaimed. 

"Right before we left," Izzy added, "I got another email from Gennai. He said that he forgot to tell me that the person's Digivice will glow while they're near it." 

"That's useful," Joe said.

"Yep," said Gomamon.

"Maybe we should split into two groups, one for each Digivice," Izzy suggested, "I should probably go home and build this device that Gennai sent me. I don't even know what it is yet."

"Okay," Tai said, "Kari, T.K., Joe and I'll take one and Mimi, Matt, and Sora will take the other. Okay?"

"Right," everyone agreed.

Chapter 5

Tai's group walked through the northern section of Odaiba. Agumon was veiled in a blue cloak. Gatomon walked on all fours and pretended to be a cat. Biyomon and Gomamon pretended to be stuffed animals.

Kari's stomach growled. She didn't seem to notice, but Tai and Gatomon did.

"Meow!" Gatomon said. It was a pitiful imitation of a real cat.

"Let's go get some snacks to eat," Tai suggested, "There's a convenience store over there. Let's go."

Without waiting for anyone to object Tai headed toward the store. Kari looked sad that she'd delayed their quest.

Tai said, "Go get a candy bar or some chips, Kari. I'll pay for yours."

"Okay," Kari said sadly. Gatomon temporarily pretended to be a third stuffed animal, seeing that pets weren't allow in the store. She turned her eyes to Kari and struggled to keep her happy toy-like grin. Kari retrieved a snack-sized bag of potato chips and handed them to Tai.

The group approached the register.

RRRR-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-N-G!

Everyone jumped. Kari and Gatomon spotted a black-haired girl wearing a yellow T-shirt and overalls dash through the door.

"Tai! The Digivice!" Agumon cried.

Tai looked down; the Digivice Gennai gave them was glowing. He shouted, "They're outside! Pay!" he shoved a $5 bill in Joe's face and tossed his candy bar on the counter.

"Get that kid!" the salesclerk yelled and pointed to the door right before Tai and Agumon dashed through it.

The ringing sound continued. Gatomon used her paws to pull her ears down against the sides of her head.

"Joe?" T.K. yelled, "What's that ringing noise?"

"I don't know," Joe said, "Maybe some kind of alarm."

Tai stopped outside the door and looked around. The Digivice stopped glowing. Surprised, Tai turned right and ran, hoping to get back in range of the person. It glowed faintly. Agumon ran after him.

"That's her!" someone yelled in an exceedingly loud voice. From an ally came a big grayish elephant-like Digimon. It had spikes running down its spine its and red-rimmed ears. The people on the street stopped and stared. A few of them screamed.

Tai stopped dead in his tracks. Agumon caught up, and Tai asked, "What that?"

Agumon said, "Elemon—an evil Digimon that can send a Hiding Tree flying. He uses his big tusks as weapons."

"Is that the evil Digimon Gennai was talking about?" Tai asked.

"It might be, but I doubt it," Agumon said, "He's probably just a lackey."

"Yeah," Tai said, "Either way, he's trouble. Better Digivolve!"

"Agumon warp digivolve to…Wargreymon!"

Elemon seemed a bit surprised and confused to see Wargreymon. He reached his trunk down into the crowd of people. He narrowly missed grabbing the girl that Kari and Gatomon had seen. She was wearing sunglasses, but her astonishment was still visible.

Wargreymon growled and slashed at Elemon with his claws. 

Elemon roared in pain. He held his trunk up to face Wargreymon and yelled, "De-digivolution Beam!"

"What?!" Wargreymon demanded. He was hit with a blue beam that came from Elemon's trunk. He glowed with blue light and started to shrink.

"What?! No way!" Tai exclaimed. He ran over to his Digimon and cried, "Can he really do that?!"

"He just did," Agumon muttered, "A Digimon with that power can only use it once in a while, because it takes a lot of energy. He'll be short on defense now. I can take him!"

"Be careful!" Tai cried.

Agumon jumped up and yelled, "Pepper Breath!"

Elemon shook his head after he was hit in the eye with a fire ball. He hit Agumon with his trunk and smacked him into a wall.

"Agumon?!" Tai ran up, "Are you okay?!"

"I'm okay, really," Agumon said dizzily. He fell forward onto his stomach and de-digivolved to Koromon. Elemon lumbered mockingly toward them. 

Tai gasped as Elemon's trunk rose up in preparation to crush him and Koromon. He cringed, then heard, "Boom Bubble!"

"Huh?" Tai wondered as Elemon's trunk was hit by a partially invisible bubble, "Hey, it's Patamon!"

Joe, T.K., and Kari were standing a ways behind them.

Gomamon said, "Gomamon digivolve to…Ikkakumon!"

"Ivory Javelins!" Elemon cried. The tips of his tusks shot away from the rest of them and had sticks on the back, forming a pair of spears.

Ikkakumon was hit by the spears. While Elemon was distracted, Gatomon slashed his face with her claws a few times.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon exclaimed. The missile he shot from his horn left Elemon reeling. 

"Boom…BUBBLE!" Patamon cried. 

Elemon was already so weak that Patamon's bubble ripped through him and made him disintegrate.

Patamon fluttered there and looked at the dispersing atoms in surprise. His eyes sparkled and he smacked his paws against his cheeks. He cried, "Wow! Did my wittle Boom Bubble weawwy take him out?!" 

"Yup!" T.K. said, "You're awesome!"

"Awesome?!" Patamon blushed.

"Now he's gonna get a big head," Gomamon said after he de-digivolved.

"As long as my ears and the rest of my body get bigger too," Patamon said, "I don't really care." 

"That's not what I meant…" Gomamon informed.

"Can we get outta here?!" Joe demanded, "People are staring!"

They heard a police siren and bolted down the street. They ran into the ally from which Elemon had come. They jumped the rumpled chain link fence and ran down the next street until they were sure they'd lost anyone that had been staring at them. 

"We lost the ninth child because of Elemon," Koromon moaned, "That Digivice was glowing…."

"I think he knew who she was," Patamon said, "Before I attacked him, he tried to grab some girl."

"What'd she look like?" Tai asked.

"I think she was fairly tall," Patamon recalled. He closed his eyes to picture her and said, "She had a yellow shirt with bluish pants that covered part of the shirt. Her hair was long and black, and she had, uh, a thing on her eyes…."

"A thing on her eyes?" Tai repeated.

"You mean glasses, like Joe has?" T.K. asked.

"Uh, yeah!" Patamon said, "But different, really dark, and I don't know if she could see."

"Sunglasses," Kari realized, "and she had overalls. I think I saw her run out of the store as the alarm went off."

"She did?" Tai asked.

"So we're dealing with a thief?" Joe demanded.

"Maybe the alarm was for something else," T.K. suggested.

"Maybe…" Joe thought uneasily.

****

Chapter 6

The girl Patamon had identified had run after Wargreymon had slashed at and distracted Elemon. Once she was a safe distance down the street she looked back and saw Ikkakumon use his Harpoon Torpedo. Gatomon moved too fast to be seen, and Patamon's Boom Bubble was too hard to see at that distance. After the battle, the big hairy creature had shrunk out of sight.

She went into a different ally on the opposite side of the street and checked to make sure no one noticed her. She ducked on the other side of the dumpster and retrieved a plastic bag. She dumped some clothes and some make-up out and emptied the pockets of her stylish overalls. She shoved bags of chips, soda, and candy into the bag, looked around the corner of the dumpster again, and stripped down to a green bikini. 

She put her shirt, overalls, and sunglasses in the bag with the candy, and put on her other clothes, followed by mascara and black lipstick. She fixed her hair into a ponytail, checked to make sure everything was packed away, stood up, and looked at a second-story window of a the building on her left. 

She tied the bag shut, held it in one hand, spun it around for speed, and chucked it through the window.

She laughed to herself and said, "I am, like, way too smart for the rest of these lowlifes." She turned to leave the ally and nearly ran into someone.

"Oh, really?" the someone said in a sly voice. The voice was sort of low-pitched, but definitely female. The girl looked up to see an oddly colored cat-like face. She stepped back and observed the creature fully. It—she—looked like a cross between a tall, slender woman and a white, red, yellow, and orange tiger. 

Her lower jaw and the front of her body were white. The rest of her fur was swirls of red, yellow, and orange, and she was covered with tiger-like stripes. She had tattered black clothing that just barely covered what it had to. A lot of badly kept hair of the same color and pattern as her fur bushed out of her head and ran down her back. It stopped at the base of her long tail, which stuck out of the back of her skirt, despite the skirt looking as if their was no hole for the tail to go out through. On the end of her tail was what looked like a handle-less mallet. On either side of the mallet was a white circular emblem with the silhouette of an 'S'-shaped snake. She looked like she was standing on her tiptoes, but her toes and the balls of her feet were modeled like paws. She had long black claws on her fingertips.

She gave a sarcastic grin to showoff her lethal-looking fangs. Her bright green eyes twinkled with evil as she said, "Perhaps you'd like to go somewhere where your enemies are a bit smarter."

The girl scooted back around to the side of the dumpster and clenched her hands into fists. She said, "First of all, who are you? Second of all, what are you? Third off all… I doubt I'm interested, but what do you have in mind?"

The creature rolled its eyes and grinned a little bigger. She said, "I am a Digimon. My name and species is Tigressamon." She waited, but the girl didn't seem to have any intention of introducing herself, "It's okay. You don't know me, but I know who you are, Vanessa… Integrity of the DigiDestined…"

"What?!" the girl took a step back as her eyes widened in surprise, "How do you know my name?! And Integrity of the _what_?!"

Tigressamon laughed a bit and said, "Actually, the thought of _you_ being virtuous is a bit farfetched…Anyway, excuse me if I made it sound like I was offering you something. I wasn't."

Before Vanessa could say anything, Tigressamon's hand moved like she was taking something out of her back pocket. Although the raveled black cloth that some might refer to as a skirt had no pockets, the Digimon's clawed hand came forward holding a small black rectangular object. It had several small yellow buttons and a larger red one.

"What's that?" Vanessa demanded.

"Your ticket to a whole new world," Tigressamon somehow enlarged her toothy grin.

"Is it a TV remote?" Vanessa asked hopefully, "Are you gonna make me watch Aladdin, or some stupid video about that one dude that discovered the Americas? You said you weren't offering for me to go anywhere."

"You wish," Tigressamon said mockingly. She pushed several yellow buttons, then the red one, "And I wasn't offering; I was insisting."

"What?!" Vanessa demanded, a bit more fearfully than before.

"Sayonara!" Tigressamon grinned as a swirling bluish vortex opened up behind Vanessa, who screamed as she was pushed into it. The Digimon emitted a short evil giggle and leaped through the portal.

Vanessa landed on her rump as she was thrown out of the portal's other end. She shook her head to clear it of confusion and looked around. She was in a prison-like cell with three stone walls. The forth wall was nothing more than black bars and a door. She jumped into a kneeling position as Tigressamon landed safely in front of her. She laughed and went to the door, opened it, sauntered through it, closed it, and locked it with a padlock.

"Hey!" Vanessa cried. She jumped up and ran to the bars.

"I'll be back in awhile," Tigressamon said. She joked, "Don't go anywhere, Miss DigiDestined."

She laughed at her own tritely dull pun and swaggered down the stone hallway for about three cell lengths. She turned to her left and head around the corner, out of sight.

"Get me out of here!" Vanessa yelled, only to make Tigressamon giggle more.

"One down, one to go," Tigressamon mumbled gleefully, "Master Cunnimon will be happy…."

****

Chapter 7

"Well," Matt said to Mimi and Sora, "It's getting dark so most kids have to go home. We should probably be getting home too."

"Yeah," Sora agreed.

"It's about time," Mimi moaned, "I'm starving."

"See ya tomorrow," Matt said.

"Goodbye."

"Bye-bye."

***

After Tai, Kari, T.K., and Joe decided to split up and go home, Joe went one way while the others traveled together. Tai was going to walk T.K home, since it was on his way. Joe and Gomamon traveled through the park.

"Hey, Joe," Gomamon whispered.

"What is it now?" Joe whispered back. 

"I think I hear something," Gomamon said, "Like a bunch of people yelling."

"We probably shouldn't get into it," Joe advised.

"But I want to know what's going on," Gomamon moaned.

"Okay, fine," Joe said reluctantly, "We'll go check it out…"

"It's over there, in the trees," Gomamon pointed. Joe walked towards the sounds. They approached a group of people. Most were grouped together and laughing. There was a snobby-looking girl pushing another girl around.

"Hey, I know these guys," Joe said, "They go to my school. They're not exactly the nicest people…."

"You're such a wimp!" one girl said. She shoved the other girl into a tree and made her glasses fall off. Everyone laughed.

"Hey, cut it out!" Joe yelled. Everyone looked at him in surprise. They hadn't noticed him before, and when they identified him, they seemed even more surprise. Joe ordered, "Leave her alone, Teri!"

"_You_ of all people?" Teri, the snobby girl, said, "telling _me_ what to do?"

"Yeah, go away, and leave her alone!" Joe insisted, "Just back off!"

"You're telling us to back off?" one very large and tough-looking boy from the group said. He strutted over to Joe in an attempt to look tougher and taller than he was.

"Did I stutter?" Joe asked, once again surprising everyone.

"Mind your own business, twerp," the guy said.

"Why should I?" Joe demanded, "You're not!"

"Look, Shorty," Teri said, "Get out of here, and take your dorky stuffed animal with you."

"You're carrying a stuffed animal around?" the guy snickered.

"Well, duh. Do you have a problem with that?" Joe demanded.

"Maybe we should remind you of just who it is you're tryin' to boss around," the guy said threatening.

"You do that," Joe said calmly, yet boldly.

Everyone seemed rather taken aback by Joe's courage. Gomamon couldn't hold it in anymore. While no one was looking, he put his paw over his mouth and whispered, "Marching Fishes…."

Everyone was too far from the park's pond to notice tons of brightly-colored fish leap out of it and somehow bounce toward Joe and the others. They tackled everyone save Gomamon, Joe, and the girl that Teri had been bullying.

"Ah!" Teri cried, "What are these things?!" 

"Fish, are you blind?" Joe asked calmly.

It didn't take long for the aggressive fishes to scare them all off. Joe turned to see the girl sitting at the base of the tree. She was using her hands to vainly search the ground for her now-broken glasses. They were several feet away, so Joe picked him up.

"Here," he said and handed them to her, "One of the lenses is broken."

"Uh, thank you," she said. She put the glasses on anyway and tried to see through her good lens.

"Are you okay, Levia?" Joe asked.

"Yeah," she said. She sniffled and found a triangular piece of glass that had fallen from her glasses. She aimlessly fiddled with it and stared into space.

"Do you need help getting home?" Joe asked.

"No," Levia said.

"Hey!" Gomamon piped up, "Stop playing with that glass, or you'll cut yourself."

"Quiet you!" Joe demanded, clamping his hand over Gomamon's mouth.

Levia seemed surprised that Joe's "stuffed animal" had just spoken, but she didn't seem to care. She sighed, "I know." The glass was rubbing the underside of her wrist.

"Stop that," Joe warned, "If you cut your wrist, you could die."

"I know that too…" Levia responded.

Joe considered her response. He frowned, grabbed her hand that held the glass, and pried it out of her fingers. He demanded, "Are you some kind of… suicidal… person?! Are you nuts?!"

Levia stayed silent. Her light blonde hair hid her big green eyes.

"Suicidal?" Gomamon demanded, "You mean she wants to die?"

Levia nodded. 

Before Joe could say anything, Gomamon slapped Levia with his flipper and yelled, "ARE YOU NUTS?! Life is more important than that! Are you crazy! What could motivate you to do something suicidal?!"

Levia looked a bit shocked, to put it lightly. She tried to push Gomamon away. Joe pulled on his back flipper and pried the Digimon off her.

"Sorry, about him, uh, attacking you like that," Joe said and put him on the ground. He gained Gomamon's stern look and said, "But I have to say that he's right…. What's wrong with you?"

"Everyone's always treating me like trash," Levia sniffled, "Trash has to be taken out sometime, or it just keeps getting more and more smelly."

"Your metaphor doesn't sound right to me…" Gomamon commented.

"Just because you're treated like trash doesn't mean you are," Joe insisted, "You'll stop being treated like trash if you stop _acting_ like trash and start standing up for yourself."

"Easy for you to say," Levia said.

"Why is that?" Joe asked, "Because I stood up to those guys? I used to be treated like trash too. That's why I surprised them so much; I don't act like trash anymore."

She tried to blink back tears.

"If you're alive," Gomamon said, despite Joe trying to keep him quiet, "then you have a chance to be happy. If you're dead, you have _no_ chance."

"Gomamon's right," Joe admitted, "Why don't you go home and get some rest. Oh, and please don't tell anyone about my talking stuffed animal."

"They wouldn't believe me anyway," Levia said; "Bye." She got up and walked passed them. 

After she was about fifty yards away, Gomamon asked, "Should we follow her home to make sure she's okay?"

Joe thought. He said, "Yeah. Let's go." He picked Gomamon up and followed her slowly.

"I have this feeling about her," Gomamon said, "She might be one of the two new kids. We'll want to know where she lives."

"Her?!" Joe demanded, "But she's just some dork!"

"You used to be pretty dorky yourself, Joe."

"I was not…."

****

Chapter 8

"There!" Izzy proclaimed, "It's done!"

Tentomon looked at it, "What is it?"

"I have no idea."

They were staring at an elaborate metal lining the inside of his closet's doorframe. There was a tiny red button on the side. Izzy closed then opened the door to make sure it didn't bump the machine or it's button.

"What does it do?" Tentomon asked.

"I don't know…." 

"Then why do we have it?"

"I don't know that either…" Izzy said. He pushed the button, causing the closet doorway to be covered by something shiny, blue, and opaque. Izzy gingerly touched it. The tip of his finger disappeared like he was touching very murky water that didn't make a ripple.

"What's it feel like?" Tentomon asked, fluttering up behind Izzy, "Is it wet?"

"No," Izzy said, "I can't feel it at all. It's like air."

"Oh," Tentomon said. A few seconds after Izzy removed his finger, the blueness disappeared, leaving the closet as it was before the button was pushed.

"Perhaps you should check your email," Tentomon suggested, "Gennai may have sent you a more precise description by now."

"Yep," Izzy said. He went to his laptop and got online. He said, "Hey, Gennai _did_ email us."

"Told ya so."

"Greetings," the email said, "Sorry about the instructions for the machine I sent you. I wrote the instructions myself and forgot to tell you what it is. It's the Dimensional Rift Portal Creation System. Pushing the read button will result in creating a portal to the DigiWorld. Maybe you'll have reason to use it soon. –Gennai."

"Oh, a portal machine," Izzy realized.

***

Meanwhile… Vanessa was pacing in her cell. She stopped, studied the padlock, and smiled.

"Stupid alien cat-things," she said. She took a twisted wire from her jacket's pocket and stuck it up the keyhole of the lock. After a bit of twisting, she opened the lock and removed it from the door. She cringed as the door hinges squealed. She crept out and look around. There were several cells lining one side of the hall. She closed and re-locked the door, then recalled where Tigressamon had gone.

She'd gone right, so Vanessa headed left. The assorted species of Digimon, most grouped two per cell, looked at her in shock. One tiny Digimon was in a small pet carrier on the floor near her cell.

"Help me!" the tiny Digimon cried in a squeaky voice.

"What?" Vanessa wondered.

"Please help me, Vanessa," the Digimon pleaded, "I'm your loyal friend, Kit—"

"Loyal friend…right…" Vanessa said sarcastically. She snorted and continued walking down the hall.

"Vanessa, please…" the Digimon cried as tears welled up in its eyes, "Please don't leave me here…please…."

Vanessa couldn't help but turn and study the Digimon's appearance. It was light yellowish-beige color and looked similar to Patamon, but only about two thirds the size. It had round ears and big green tearful eyes. There were three brown stripes running horizontally on its back.

"Please don't leave me…."

The pet porter could be easily opened… It seemed impossible that this little yellow mouse-like thing could cause any trouble, save yelling and letting the bigger things know of Vanessa's escape. And she seemed less likely to do that if she was helped.

"Please…."

"You owe me, rat."

The Digimon sniffled and smiled as Vanessa quickly opened the cage's door and let her out. She jogged down the corridor in the direction she'd been going. The Digimon waddled after her.

***

"Master Cunnimon," Tigressamon said, kneeling before her master's throne, which looked like a huge gold saucer, "I gratefully request my next mission."

"Have you captured the DigiDestined of Integrity?" the huge cobra-like Digimon hissed. It had a yellowish underbelly and face. Its eyes were white with slit pupils. Its back was magenta with purple diamonds running along the spine. The underside of its hood was purple, and the edges of the hood were lined in red spikes. There were three extensions, like mini tails, on the tip of her tail.

"Yes, my empress," Tigressamon said, "But speaking freely…" she hesitated, but Cunnimon gave her a look to continue, "…she does not live up to her title."

"That only makes it easier for us in case of an emergency," Cunnimon said in her hissing voice, "For now, find the other new child. Take her captured Digimon since I understand she has been harder to find for some reason…." 

"Yes, madam," Tigressamon acknowledged. 

"You're dismissed."

Tigressamon got up and left the poorly-lighted throne room. After several hallways, she reached the hallway full of cells and stopped next to the first one. It was empty but there was another pet carrier sitting by the door. The feline Digimon retrieved a brown leash off a nail in the wall and kneeled in front of the tiny cage.

"Let me out of here," the Digimon inside pleaded. She looked a bit like a minute version of the Loch Ness monster. She had a neck that was long and slender in proportion to the rest of her body. She was blue and chubby, and she had four flippers instead of legs. Her tail was stubby, she had a blunt horn on her forehead, and she had large round ears and big blue eyes. Her underside was yellowish-beige.

"You'll get out of your cage," Tigressamon said, "because I have a job to do and _you're_ going to help me."

"No, I won't!" the Digimon shouted.

"Sorry, little Nessimon. You have no choice," Tigressamon opened the cage. Nessimon seized her chance and struggled to lunge past her captor. Tigressamon seemed prepared, but Nessimon leaped over her arm anyway and bolted down the hall… or tried. Her flippers caused her to move at a pitifully slow speed. She panted as she struggled to flop away from her feline abductor.

Tigressamon calmly stood and leashed Nessimon. Seeing that she had no hope of escaping, she tried to fight Tigressamon. She inhaled to her lungs' full capacity and exhaled a bunch of large pink bubbles. They hit Tigressamon and burst on impact. She didn't even flinch; she just continued to grin at her prisoner.

After the third attempt at the attack, Tigressamon sighed and dragged Nessimon down the hall. She referred back to her remote-control-like thing and opened another portal at the end of the hall.

"Come on, Ness," Tigressamon said gleefully. She walked into the portal and pulled the reluctant Digimon with her. 

Right before the portal closed, a green human-sized Digimon somersaulted through while yelling, "Wait for me!"

Tigressamon seemed displeased to see him emerge from the portal. They were surrounded by darkness and the trees at the park, so he looked like he belonged there. He had the body of a muscular green-skinned human. He had what looked like boots and gloves of a darker green that ended in leaf-like borders, but all four paws were easily seen. A bushy green tail stuck out behind him and he had a canine-like head with leaves for ears and glowing white eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Tigressamon said.

"I figured I'd help you so you don't screw up," the green Digimon said mockingly.

"I don't want your help, _or_ need it! I captured one of the children!"

"I've never seen anyone get two breaks in a row. Besides, she was the weak one, _and_ you got lucky."

They argued on and Nessimon saw her opportunity. She spit one bubble at a time at part of the leash. After several bubbles, she started to chew on the weakened section.

"You're a ditz!" the green Digimon exclaimed.

"You're an idiot!" Tigressamon shot back.

"Nitwit!

"Dimwit!"

"Surly little squirt!"

"You—"

"You're so misspent, you lost your In-training!"

"What?"

"Nessimon! She's gone!"

"What?!" Tigressamon repeated louder. She looked down at the broken leash. She turned back to the green Digimon and cried, "Fire Bash!" 

An aura of fire surrounded the mallet-like tip of her tail. She swung her blazing tail and whapped him hard in the chest. He was knocked into a tree. Tigressamon quickly looked around. She sniffed the air and ran from the trees. 

****

Chapter 9

The same night, Joe and Gomamon followed far behind Levia until she entered her apartment. Once they knew she was safe, they turned back around and headed back toward Joe's house. Gomamon spotted something in the bushes.

"Hey, look!" Gomamon said and pointed at the bushes.

"The bushes are shaped to be round," Joe said, "So what? That's called topiary."

"But I saw something go into the bushes!" Gomamon said.

"It was probably a rabbit."

"What's a rabbit? Is it blue?"

"It's a small animal, but it's never blue."

"Then it wasn't a rabbit! It was blue! It could've been a Digimon!"

"But—"

"Come on!"

"No!" Joe snapped, "You've gotten us in plenty of trouble for one night! We have to get home before _I_ get in trouble." 

Right before they turned the corner, Gomamon saw Nessimon creep cautiously from the bush and look around. She looked at Gomamon.

"J…J…" Gomamon stuttered. As they turned the corner, his face reddened and he obtained a goofy-looking grin.

"What?" Joe asked.

"Uh, I… I, uh… um…uh, w… D, d… uh, I…oh…."

"Be quiet."

He sighed and did as he was told.

***

Vanessa and the little Digimon she'd rescued tiptoed through the halls. However, they were so maze-like, that they didn't take long for them to be hopelessly lost.

"Vanessa?" the Digimon asked.

"Are you still here?"

"Um, yeah," she said, looking hurt, "I think I found a hair."

"A hair?" Vanessa demanded, "What do you mean, and why is it so important?"

"It's a hair that I shed," the Digimon said, eyeing the ground, "That means that Tigressamon and I came this way when I was captured. I can _probably_ follow my own scent and get us out of here."

"Really? Cool," Vanessa said. She was beginning to be glad she'd helped the little rat. She followed the Digimon, who waddled along with a _sniff-sniff_ing sound.

"HALT!"

The Digimon and Vanessa each jumped about three feet.

"Who goes there?" a shadowed figure appeared at the end of the hall.

"Should we answer him?" Vanessa asked quietly.

"Uh…."

"Prepare for battle!" the shadowy figure exclaimed. It stepped closer and revealed that it looked like a four-foot-tall Big Foot with chain mail and a scimitar. He had a helmet as well.

"What is _that_?!" Vanessa demanded.

The little Digimon said, "Guardsmon—a Digimon that works for more powerful Digimon in exchange for DigiDollars. He's a powerful Rookie."

"Rookie?" Vanessa asked as Guardsmon approached.

"There are six Digimon digivolution phases," the Digimon explained quickly, "From weakest to strongest, they are: Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega."

"What are you?"

"In-Training."

"So you're weaker than him?"

"Uh, yeah…" the Digimon said shamefully.

"Uh-oh…."

"Die, intruders!"

"Don't worry, Vanessa! I'll protect you!" the Digimon said. She jumped forward toward the advancing Digimon.

"How?" Vanessa demanded.

"Power Blade!" Guardsmon cried. He raised his sword and made it glow. 

"YAH!" the little Digimon cried. She jumped aside just in time to avoid the sword and the trail of light that tailed it. It made a two-foot-or-so deep gash in the stone floor. The Digimon blew pink bubbles at Guardsmon. He fruitlessly swatted them away.

"Take that!" responded Guardsmon. He tried to punch her, only to have his hand bitten. The little Digimon was thrown into the wall. She fell back to the floor, stumbled dizzily, and barely managed to miss Guardsmon's attack. 

She repeatedly fired bubbles at her opponent. He didn't seem too taken back.

"Vanessa?! Do have a Digivice?!" she hollered as she dashed between Guardsmon's legs so fast she tripped him. 

"No!"

"Power Blade!"

"Then RUN!"

"Wha?" Vanessa demanded.

"I'll distract him!" the little Digimon said, "You run!"

"What about you!" Vanessa asked.

"Just go! Save yourself!" the little Digimon screamed as she dodged Guardsmon's Power Blade. Vanessa seized the chance and bolted in the direction that Guardsmon had come from. As soon as she turned the corner, she heard the little Digimon's painful squeal and froze.

"That little rat-thing is sacrificing her _life_ for me…" she realized, "Would I have done the same?" She already knew that she wouldn't have, but….

****

Chapter 10

Vanessa yanked a torch off the wall and ran back toward her. She grabbed another torch as she ran and came up behind Guardsmon. She whacked him on each side of his head, and she brought the torches down on his shoulders as hard as possible.

He turned to her and tried to use his Power Blade attack on her. She slunk back and raised a torch to block the blade. The top of the torch was sliced smoothly away and rolled across the inflammable floor. She knocked his sword away with her good torch and threw the flame-less one at his face.

He started to punch her, but he suddenly shouted in pain and jumped. Vanessa waved her torch at him and ignited his fur.

"Yahh!" he cried as he was completely engulfed with flames. He hollered and ran around in circles for a few seconds before he blew to atoms.

"Guess he's never heard of stop, drop, and roll," Vanessa commented. She looked at the little Digimon. Her face was bulged into a comical look of disgust that was almost cute. She spat on the floor. Vanessa laughed after realizing what she'd done.

"I ain't doing that again," the little Digimon declared.

"You da bomb, Rat!" Vanessa praised.

"Huh?"

"Never mind…."

The little Digimon continued her job of sniffing their way out. She said, "You fought really well, but I've never heard of a human fighting a Digimon."

"I've never heard of a Digimon…" Vanessa muttered and followed.

"Actually, you're the first human I've ever seen. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Tokyo, but I live in Odaiba."

"Oh… I've never heard of those places. Are they part of the DigiWorld?"

"DigiWorld?" Vanessa asked, "Is that some corny American theme park?"

"No," the little Digimon said. She had no clue what Vanessa was talking about. She informed, "I'm from the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs."

"Why is it called that?"

"You'd have to see it to know…."

"Ah. So what's the DigiWorld?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Well you've never heard of Tokyo."

"But we aren't in Tokyo," the little Digimon said logically, "We're in the DigiWorld. It's the land of Digimon, Digital Monsters."

"Monsters? Oh, joy…."

After awhile, Vanessa and the little Digimon found one of the building's smaller exits. The climbed down the rocky slope and looked at the building. It could easily be referred to a castle. There was even a moat that they'd yet to cross.

"The Castle of Cunnimon…."

"Cunnimon?" Vanessa asked, "Who's that?"

"The evil Digimon that ordered her lackeys to capture us."

"Ah," she went over to the moat and said, "Good thing I'm wearing my bathing suit. How deep do you think this is?"

"About 50 feet or so… I wouldn't g—"

"Yahh!" Vanessa screeched as tentacle-like thing armed with a sucker pad rose sinuously from the water. She cried, "What's that?!" as it disappeared below the waves.

"Gesomon…not a friendly creature," the little Digimon informed, "There's a tree over there. We might be able to knock it down and make a bridge."

"Aren't there any _real_ bridges in the DigiWorld?"

"There is in the front of the castle, but…."

"More guards?"

"Yeah…."

"Shoot," Vanessa said. She torched the base of the tree, and the Digimon blew her pink bubbles at it. After the bubbles had weakened the tree and extinguished the fire, they pushed on it. The tree began to break at the weakened burnt part, and it was then easily pushed over. The branches caught on the opposite bank.

"Now we can cross," the Digimon said, "but since you're big, you'll have to be careful."

"What, am I fat?" Vanessa asked.

"I don't know. I'm no big expert on humans, but you look a bit _under_weight to me…. Are you sure you're healthy?"

"I don't know about healthy, but I'm not underweight," Vanessa laughed, "I totally stuff myself with junk food all the time."

"Junk food?"

"Never mind."

They carefully crossed the makeshift bridge. The branches started to give way just before Vanessa jumped to the shore. She got up and leaped just in time to avoid falling into the water with the tree, which was demolished by Gesomon in a rather disturbing display.

"So, Rat…" Vanessa said, "Do you know where to find the Forest of, uh… what was it called again?"

"Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"It's over there in front of that volcano," the Digimon pointed.

"Volcano?" Vanessa asked uneasily. She looked toward the horizon to see a short flat green volcano. There was a visible forest in front of it, but it wasn't close enough to have its name understood.

"It was named by a human who's a DigiDestined like you," the Digimon informed. She explained, "A Yokomon overheard him call it the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs, but then Meramon burnt it down. Since that boy that named it's friend helped her Digimon digivolve to save the Yokomon Village, they named the forest the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs after it grew back…road signs and all…."

"Um…yeah…" Vanessa stuttered, "Anyway, since you know your way back home, why don't you get moving. Since you haven't heard of Odaiba, I doubt you'll be able to help me get back."

"B-but, Vanessa, I…."

"No buts," Vanessa said, "Go home. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it, but now is time for us to find our own ways home…. Got it?"

The Digimon's eyes got watery. She sniffled.

"I've known you less than an hour. Don't say you're attached to me already," Vanessa said.

"But you're…."

"I'll be fine. Go home. 'Kay, Rat?"

"O…okay," the little Digimon sniffled, "Whatever you say…."

"Alright," Vanessa said. She looked around, clueless.

"Hey, Vanessa?" 

"What now?" Vanessa demanded.

The Digimon cringed in response to her harsh tone. She said, "If Odaiba is in…is in the Real World… go that way, southwest." She pointed and continued, "Unless you know a better way. There might be someone over by the lake who can help you…."

Vanessa smiled, "Thanks _again_, Rat. Bye."

The little Digimon stared at her until she was out of sight. Then she whispered, "Bye, Vanessa," sighed, and slowly walked northwest toward the forest.

***

"Maybe Rat was wrong," Vanessa thought as she observed the lake's shore after a very long walk, "There's no one here at all." She sighed, "Oh, well…."

She turned the other way and froze as she heard the sound of water moving behind her. She turned back toward the lake to see the water neatly parted and giving way to an extraordinarily long staircase. There was a building or two of sorts in the middle of the lake.

For lack of something more informed to do, Vanessa shrugged and cautiously stepped onto the first step. Seeing nothing happen, she poked at the wall of water that was next to her. Aside from her finger getting wet, again nothing happened. She continued down the staircase and was more than a little on edge. There didn't seem to be anything holding the water away, and whatever was causing it to part might decide to stop….

****

Chapter 11

"Does the word 'Koromon' ring a bell in that dense little head of yours?"

"Koromon?" Vanessa wondered. She was sitting in Gennai's living room and becoming confused out of her wits. A picture flashed in the back of her mind of a pinkish blob with long ears, a pair of big cute-looking red eyes, and a wide grin. She said, "I… I think so… but I'm not sure."

"Well it's a start," Gennai said, "Excuse me a moment." He went through a door out of Vanessa's sight. She sat for a moment. After getting bored, she lifted and began inspecting a one-and-a-half-inch-tall statue of Angemon that was on Gennai's end table. It appeared to be carved out of diamond, and there were about forty more statuettes lined in neat little rows on the table.

She tilted her head to make sure Gennai was out of sight, then popped the Angemon statue into her pocket, along with Birdramon, Angewomon, and Ikkakumon. Seeing her pocket bulge, she put Angewomon and Ikkakumon in the flap of cloth on the back of her jacket.

__

If they're worth anything, they won't break, she thought, _even if they are a little uncomfortable._ She rearranged the statues slightly to make it look like they were all there. She paused and stared at the tiny statue of the Digimon that had helped her in the castle.

"Okay," Gennai entered the room and made Vanessa jump. He looked at her strangely and continued, "I emailed a friend of mine, so it shouldn't be long before someone comes and helps you get home. You'll have to find your assistant, Kittimon."

"Okay," Vanessa nodded, "but could you run the whole, uh, Digivice-Destined-mon thingy by me again? I still don't get it…."

Gennai sighed, "It'll be explained in due time." He got a tiny object, like a miniature card off the table and handed it to her. He explained, "This is the Crest of Integrity. One of your escorts should have the accompanying tag and Digivice. If you can get this to glow, your Digimon partner will become stronger and can digivolve."

"What does 'digivolve' mean again?"

Gennai repeated his sigh.

***

Kari answered her family's phone when it rang. She asked, "Hello?"

"Hello, Kari, this is Izzy."

"Hi, Izzy. Do you have more big news?"

"Yep," Izzy said, "Gennai has found one of the new girls for us."

"Wow, that's great," Kari said.

"Tell Tai that we need two groups," Izzy explained, "One to go to the DigiWorld and get her and her Digimon and one to go find the other new kid. Have everyone come to my house."

"Okay," Kari said, "I'll go tell him."

They said bye and hung up. Kari informed Tai of the situation.

"Cool," Agumon said, "Now we don't have nearly as much searching to do."

"Can I be part of the group that goes to the DigiWorld?" Kari asked.

"Sure, I'll go too," Tai said, "Along with… Mimi and Sora…unless they disagree."

Tai called everyone and informed them of the mission and that they all had to meet at Izzy's as soon as possible.

Izzy's mom answered the door when someone knocked on it. Joe, who carried large blue bag, stood on the steps.

"Hi, I'm Joe," Joe said, "I'm one of Izzy's friends."

After introducing herself, Izzy's mom led Joe to Izzy's room and tried to open the door, which refused to budge. The sound of some things crashing around in the room preceded Izzy throwing the door open and flashing the most innocent-looking smile he could muster. 

His mom tried to hold in her sigh but failed. She said, "Your friend Joe is here."

"Hi, Joe. Right on time," Izzy said.

Joe came in and his mom left, so he closed and locked the door.

"I should probably stay in the Real World to help out," Joe said, "because there's a little bit less fighting here, I think, and Gomamon might be sick."

"Sick?" Tentomon asked as he emerged from Izzy's closet.

"Sick?" came a muffled sound from within Joe's bag.

"Sick," Joe conformed after unzipping the back and releasing Gomamon.

"What makes you think I'm sick?"

"You've been acting weird ever since you claimed to see some blue thing run into a bush," Joe argued.

"Blue…thing?" Gomamon asked. He drooped and smiled oddly as his face turned red. 

"Hmm," Izzy thought.

Izzy's mom answered the door after hearing a second knock. She was surprised to see all six of the remaining kids standing at the door. She led them in, became acquainted with those she didn't know, and ushered them to Izzy's room. She knocked on the door. There were more banging sounds as Tentomon dragged Gomamon to the closet. Izzy opened the door.

"If you're having a party or something, you could have asked to use the living room," his mom said.

"There's no party. Really," Izzy said quickly as he herded everyone inside.

"Are you expecting anyone else?"

"Uh…?" Izzy looked around.

"No, we're all here," Matt said.

"Nope," Izzy said cheerfully to his mom.

"That's good, you can only fit so many people per room," his mom said, "See you later."

Izzy closed the door behind her.

"Here's the deal," Tai said as everyone released their Digimon from backpacks, the closet, or stuffed-animal poses, "Kari, Mimi, Sora, and I will go to DigiWorld. Izzy, Matt, T.K., and Joe will stay and look for the other girl. Got it, everyone?"

"Got it," everyone said in unison.

"Gomamon?" Tentomon questioned, thus drawing attention to himself and Gomamon, who was still in his red-face-goofy-grin mode. He asked, "Gomamon? Are you still with us?" He waved his claw his claw in Gomamon's face.

"See, I think he might be sick," Joe said, "But I can't tell if he has a fever. I don't know what a Digimon's normal temperature is." Izzy turned to Tentomon.

"It varies by species," Tentomon explained.

"What's the temperature for a Gomamon?" Izzy asked.

"I dunno," Tentomon shrugged.

"Hmm," Izzy thought, "After half of us clear out of here, I'll see what I can do. Despite their appearance, Digimon are, in a sense, digital. I may be able to use my computer to find out what's wrong with him."

"Great," Tai said, "How are we getting to the DigiWorld, Izzy?"

"Through my closet."

"Okay…."

"Here," Izzy went to his closet and pushed the button on the portal machine. He gestured toward the blue light and said, "Gennai said he forgot the exact coordinates of his house, but he'll email them to me when he gets a hold of them. In the meantime, you should arrive _close_ to his house."

"We know our way well enough," Tai said. He walked toward the portal and said, "Ladies first."

"Tai being polite?" Mimi asked as she and Palmon went through.

"What a shock," Sora laughed. Kari followed them through.

"You know what I just realized?" Tai asked.

"That it's just me, you, and a bunch of girls?" Agumon asked.

"Yep," Tai said glumly, "Don't let their, uh, girlness get to you."

"Okay," Agumon went through. Tai took Vanessa's Tag and Digivice from Izzy and followed him.

****

Chapter 12

There were flashes of blue and white as Tai went through the portal. He didn't see the others, just what looked like a tunnel made of blue clouds that was ripped at by bright horizontal-moving lightning. Tai was sucked down the tunnel at what felt like the speed of light and he kept getting faster. 

He blinked to find himself in the presence of an actual ground, along with some scattered trees. His momentum from the portal caught him off guard and left him stumbling and falling forward.

"Gotta watch that first step," Gatomon said as her paws appeared in Tai's vision.

"Like you should talk, Gatomon," Mimi said as Tai got up and dusted himself off, "You and Biyomon were the only ones that didn't fall."

"I have good reflexes," Gatomon said defensively, "and Biyomon flies."

"No use just standing around here," Tai said sensibly, "Let's get to Gennai's."

"It's that way, right?" Sora asked, pointing through the trees.

Tai looked around, "Yep!"

"I'm hungry," Agumon complained.

"Me too," Gatomon said.

"We'll ask Gennai for a snack," Tai said.

"Okay," Agumon accepted. 

They made their way to the lake, which they expected to open up. 

"RRROWWWRRR!"

There was a roaring sound that racked the trees and seemed to make the water shiver. Everyone jumped in surprise.

"I don't like the sound of that," Mimi murmured. Everyone turned to see an all-too-familiar Digimon that towered evilly above them like the world's ugliest skyscraper.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Tai demanded.

"Th…that-that's a Scullgreymon!" Agumon cried.

Scullgreymon repeated his roar.

"Agumon! Warp Digivolve!" Tai ordered.

"I don't have enough energy! Too hungry!" Agumon cried, "Agumon digivolve to…Greymon!"

"Greymon?" Tai demanded, "That won't beat him!"

"Biyomon digivolve to…Birdramon!"

"Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"

"Nova Blast!" Greymon spit a fireball at Scullgreymon who didn't seem to mind. He spun and whacked him with his tail. Birdramon and Togemon's attacks didn't affect him either. He effortlessly knocked them aside. Greymon and Birdramon were pinned by his feet while he battled Togemon and Gatomon with his hands and teeth.

"Digivolve again, Birdramon!" Sora cried. She screamed as she saw Scullgreymon's bony tail rush at her. 

Tai shoved her. She fell onto the ground, causing the tail to zoom over her head and into Tai. He shouted in pain and was smashed into a tree.

"Tai!" Sora cried as she gawked in disbelief at Scullgreymon removing his Tai from Tai's upper body and letting him fall to the ground. 

***

"How do ya plug him in?" Joe asked. He inspected the connecting cable and Gomamon in an attempt to figure out his own question.

"Hmm," Izzy thought.

"Maybe you stick it in his mouth," T.K. suggested.

"Or his ear?" Matt asked.

"Or his—"

"Don't even say it, Joe!" Matt interrupted.

"Okay," Joe said. He put the end of the cord into Gomamon's mouth. Izzy put Joe's Digivice in his computer's adapter. After a long while of typing, a picture flashed on the screen.

The lighting was poor and there was only a few frames to animation, but it was easy to see a blue-finned Digimon with big azure eyes scoot cautiously out of a bush and look around.

"What's that?" T.K. asked.

Tentomon said, "Nessimon—an In-Training Digimon that should be on our side. She's usually very friendly, quiet, and shy."

"Could she be one of the new girls' Digimon?" Matt asked.

"If she's a good Digimon, she probably is," Izzy said.

"But that still doesn't explain what's up with Gomamon," Joe said, "Or how to fix the problem."

"Hmm…" Patamon murmured and grinned evilly. He went over to Gomamon and whispered something in his ear. Gomamon snapped out of his trance.

"NO!" Gomamon screamed at Patamon, thus startling him into the wall, "What makes you think I have a crush on anybody?!"

Patamon took flight and shrugged as everyone started snickering. He landed atop T.K.'s head were he'd be safe from Gomamon's anger.

"Hmph!" Gomamon tried to hide his embarrassment, but his face failed him, and he turned bright red.

***

After spending the in the bush, Nessimon crept cautiously into the daylight. She had a gut feeling and followed it by flopping up the stairs of the apartment building. She glanced around fearfully and stopped at a particular door.

Her uneasy feeling made her shuffle away from the door in fear. She then got a determined look, took a deep breath, slid closer to the door, and head butted it three times.

She cringed fearfully as she heard yelling from the other side of the door. Someone threw the door open, creating a wind to ruffle her short neatly-trimmed blonde hair. She was huffing angrily and had tears threatening to escape her eye sockets. Her angry glare turned to confusion when she didn't see anyone in front of her.

"Down here, Levia," Nessimon said.

"Huh?" Levia wondered. She looked down, and her confusion turned to surprise.

"Levia?!" someone screamed, frightening Nessimon, "Who is it?!"

"Uh…" Levia stuttered. She called, "Just some guy wanting us to subscribe to Readers' Digest!"

"Tell him to get lost!" 

"Already did!"

"What are you talking about?" Nessimon asked.

"Who and what are you?" Levia asked. She stepped onto the porch and closed the door. She wasn't wearing her glasses.

"I'm Nessimon!" Nessimon said cheerfully, "I'm your Digimon partner."

"Huh?"

"I don't mean to impose…" Nessimon said uneasily, "but do you have any food?"

"Uh…sure," Levia said. Much to the Digimon's surprise, she picked her up and carried her under her arm. 

She tiptoed into the house, through a messy living room, and down a hallway. Finally they entered Levia's tidy, yet gloomy-looking bedroom. She plopped Nessimon down on the bed and left the room.

She came back a few minutes later with a bowl of grapes. She sat them before Nessimon and asked, "Could you elaborate on your self-description?"

****

Chapter 13

Sora's crest glowed at a shocking brightness, and Scullgreymon appeared to cringe under its light.

"Birdramon digivolve to…Garudamon!"

Garudamon's increasing size made Scullgreymon loose his balance. He fell over, thus freeing Greymon.

"Greymon digivolve to…Metalgreymon!"

"Togemon digivolve to…Lilymon!"

"Gatomon digivolve to…Angewomon!"

"Tai!" Sora repeated and ran over to Tai as the four Ultimate Digimon surrounded Scullgreymon. He was lying on his stomach and not moving. He'd bumped his head on a rock when he fell, so he had a bloody cut on the side of his forehead. 

Sora pushed on him, but he didn't wake up. She rolled him over and checked his wrist for a pulse. He was alive, but he'd been hit hard.

"Wing Blade!"

"Giga Blaster!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

The force of all four attacks blew Scullgreymon to atoms. As everyone de-digivolved to Agumon, Salamon, Tanemon, and Yokomon, Sora sniffled and ignored the fact that her crest wouldn't stop glowing. Since no one was looking, she kissed Tai on the forehead on the contrary side of the cut.

"Tai!" Agumon cried as he ran over, "Is he okay, Sora?"

"He's alive, but he's unconscious," Sora said, "I'm sure he'll be okay if we get him to Gennai's right away."

As if on cue, the lake opened up to reveal a path to Gennai's house.

"Sora, what's happening?!" Yokomon demanded. She and the others came and surrounded Sora and Tai.

"Tai got hurt," Agumon said sadly.

"No, not that!" Yokomon said. She sounded as if she were in pain when she said, "I have WAY too much energy here! What's wrong?!"

"Uh," Sora wondered and looked at her glowing crest, "I don't know. My crest is acting weird."

"Yokomon digivolve to… Biyomon!"

"Can you digivolve again and carry Tai?" Sora asked. 

"Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"

Everyone cautiously helped lift Tai onto Birdramon's talon. Birdramon carefully glided down the path with the others following behind. She landed in front of Gennai's doorstep, and Sora went up and knocked on the door.

"Hello, I—" Gennai began after he answered the door.

Sora cut him off, "Gennai! Tai needs your help! We were attacked by Scullgreymon and he got hurt pretty bad."

"Uh," Gennai stuttered, "Well, bring him inside and I'll see what I can do…."

Birdramon folded her wings and ducked her head in an attempt to get inside. Gennai led them into his house's guest room and helped everyone put Tai on one of the beds. Agumon noticed Vanessa standing in the doorway of the room. He took her tag and Digivice from Tai's pocket and went over to her.

She seemed alarmed by his approach, but he held her stuff to up her and said, "I'm guessing these are yours?"

"I…I guess," Vanessa said. She took them and looked them over before removing the crest from her pocket and sliding it into the tag. She hung it around her neck.

"Why don't you all help yourselves to something to eat?" Gennai suggested, "I'll help Tai out."

After everyone had filed out of the room and Birdramon had de-digivolved, Gennai removed Tai's goggles and retrieved a roll of cloth gauze from a cabinet in the room. He got to work wrapping it around Tai's forehead.

"Hi, I'm Sora," Sora said after everyone had entered the kitchen. She held her hand out to Vanessa. 

"Vanessa," Vanessa shook her hand hard, "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Mimi," Mimi greeted. When Vanessa turned around to shake Mimi's hand, Sora massaged her hand in pain. Mimi did the same while she greeted Kari.

"Hello, I'm Kari," Kari said, struggling not to cringe from the painful handshake. Vanessa edged back uneasily when Kari took a step forward and said, "How do you do?"

"Uh, fine," Vanessa stammered. She asked, "So what happened to your buddy?"

Sora's awkward smile vanished, "We were attacked on the way here. He got smashed into a tree…."

"Ouch," Vanessa commented.

"SORA!" Biyomon screamed and scared everyone. She was on the table and appeared to vibrate.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"Too much energy!" Biyomon cried, "Make it stop! I might blow up!" She began to fly around in a figure eight.

"Settle down!" Sora exclaimed. She reached up and snatch Biyomon out of the air. She continued her futile flapping.

"Hey!" she cried, "Does anyone want, like, a practice fight? A little boxing match, a training battle? Huh, huh?"

Everyone looked at her like she was nuts. She broke away from Sora and went over to Salamon. Being unable to stand still made her bounce in place.

"You've always thought you were pretty tough!" Biyomon told her, "Come on, put 'em up! Show me what ya got!"

Salamon wordlessly turned her head to the side and stuck her nose in the air. She rubbed her paw against the table leg. Biyomon looked confusedly at her paw. 

She shrieked, "No, I don't want a scratching post!"

Salamon seemed alarmed. Sora sighed.

"Sora?" Mimi asked, "What's up with your crest?"

Sora's crest hadn't stopped glowing, but it had dimmed a little. She said, "I don't know, but it's over-powering Biyomon."

"You could always have your little bird switch to decaf." Vanessa suggested.

****

Chapter 14

"You've had quite a week," Levia said after Nessimon told her about how she was captured and escaped, "but why were you trying to find me? And how'd you know my name?"

"We were destined to work together to help free the real world and the DigiWorld," Nessimon said. Seeing Levia's confused look, she explained the legend of the DigiDestined as well as she could, seeing that she didn't know the details well.

"There are nine other kids with Digimon?" Levia asked.

"Yep," Nessimon said, "If you have a Digivice, I can Digivolve to a stronger Digimon."

"That's neat," Levia said, "but I don't have a Digivice. I don't even know what it is. Do you know where I can get one?"

"Maybe one of the other kids have yours," Nessimon suggested, "They're surely looking for you."

"Don't bet on it," Levia said, "Do you know _who_ these kids are?"

"No," Nessimon said, "but on my way here, I saw someone who was carrying a Gomamon."

Levia had a quick flashback of the white and purple seal-like creature that was scolding her about how important life was. Joe had been trying to keep him quiet.

Yet he'd said, "Gomamon's right."

Levia gasped, "Joe! He had a creature with him that he called Gomamon."

Nessimon looked exited, "Wow! I bet he's a DigiDestined too!"

"But how do I get a hold of him?" Levia wondered. She went to her bookshelf, searched it, and pulled out a blue book. She sat back down on her bed and opened it.

Nessimon gulped down the last few grapes and asked, "What's that for?"

"It's a book of phone numbers and addresses for everyone that was in my class," she said, "So now we can call him."

"What's a phone number?" Nessimon asked.

"Uh, never mind that for now," she said, "Wait here, okay?"

"Okay," Nessimon said.

She found "Joe Kido" in her book and left the room. She walked down the hall and to her living room. She sat on the couch near her mother, who was visibly parturient.

"What ya doing?" she asked without looking at Levia.

"Just calling a friend," Levia explained. She dialed Joe's number and waited for someone to answer. 

His mom did.

"Hi," Levia said, "Can I talk to Joe?"

"He's at a friend's house," his mom explained.

"Oh," Levia said, "Which friend?"

"Izzy."

"Okay, thank you," Levia said, "Bye."

__

What's Izzy's real name? she wondered. She read through all the names until she found, "Koushiro Izumi." She dialed that number and Izzy's mom answered.

"Hi," she said, "Is this Izzy's house?"

"Yes," his mom said.

"Is his friend Joe there?" she asked.

"I think so."

"Can I talk to him? It's pretty important."

"I'll go get him," Izzy's mom said. She sat the phone down and went to Izzy's room. She knocked on the door, causing all the Digimon to rush to a hiding place.

"Yeah, mom?" Izzy said after he opened the door.

"There's a call for your friend Joe," his mom said, "This girl says it's important."

Izzy looked at Joe, who had heard, and shrugged. Despite being confused, Joe left the room and headed toward the phone.

Izzy's mom seemed confused as well. She asked, "What happened to the rest of your friends?"

"Huh?" Izzy wondered, "Oh, they, uh, left…. They had to go."

"Okay," Izzy's mom said as she left and recalled not seeing anyone leave.

"Joe here," Joe said when he picked up the phone.

"Hi, Joe," Levia said, "This is Levia."

"Levia?" Joe asked, "What's so important?"

"Uh…" Levia said, feeling she should have rehearsed. She looked nervously at her mother, who was completely absorbed in the TV. She spotted Nessimon poke her head through the bedroom door. She said, "Nessimon wanted to know if you had my Digivice…."

There was no response.

"Joe?" she asked.

"Ness, Digi… _huh_?!" Joe demanded, "Can you run that by me again?"

"This little blue Loch Ness Monster thing called Nessimon wanted to know if you or that Gomamon thing had my Digivice…whatever that is…."

"Y-you-you… _You're_ the ninth DigiDestined?!" Joe demanded.

"That's what Nessimon said."

"Excuse me a minute," Joe said. He took the receiver away from his head, but Levia could still hear him yell, "Izzy! Matt! T.K.! I found her! I found her!"

The three of them stuck their heads out the door at once and cried, "Really?!"

"Yeah, we do have your tag and Digivice," Joe said, "I'll bring them to you."

"Okay," Levia accepted.

"Bye."

"See ya."

Joe hung up and jogged back to Izzy's room. He said, "There's no need for all of us to go, and I know where she lives. Give me her stuff."

Izzy handed the tag and Digivice to him, and he ran back down the hallway. Right before he went out the front door, his blue bag tumbled out of the room. After a few seconds, it began to hop in the opposite direction and said, "Hey, wait for me!"

Izzy's parents looked a bit surprised. Joe jogged over to the bag, picked it up, smiled innocently at Izzy's parents, said, "Those darn talking toys. It was nice meeting you." 

"Joe?" the bag questioned before Joe dashed out the door.

****

Chapter 15

"Yahh!"

"Tai!" Sora cried. She ran out of the kitchen and into the guestroom before Mimi or Biyomon could calm her down. The others followed her, but Vanessa took her time.

"Are you okay, Tai?" Agumon asked, seeing that Tai was awake, sitting up, and looking panicked.

"Where's Sora?!" he demanded.

"Right here, Tai," Sora said as she came up behind Agumon.

"You're okay," Tai beamed.

"Yeah, thanks to you," Sora said, "How are you feeling?"

"Relieved and in pain," Tai moaned. He noted the fact that his head was pounding and he felt like he'd been stabbed in the ribs. He pressed his hands against his two major injuries. 

He blushed when Sora's hands covered his and she said, "Why'd you go and nearly kill yourself for me?"

"I…" Tai choked on his own words, "I…. Well, what are friends for? Besides, I have the Crest of Courage. I have to be insanely brave… even if it means nearly getting myself killed."

"I'm just glad you're okay," Sora said, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Tai smiled.

"Is he her boyfriend?" Vanessa whispered to Mimi.

"Uh-uh," Mimi shook her head.

"Ya never know," Biyomon said a bit too loudly.

"You never know what?" Tai asked.

"Oh, nothing," Biyomon said, "I'm glad you're okay too, Tai." She slipped past Sora and hugged him. She squeezed too hard and made him struggle not to scream.

"Be careful, Biyomon," Sora said, "Tai is still hurt."

"Sorry," Biyomon said. She stopped hugging him and continued bouncing in place. Tai looked at here strangely.

"What's wrong, Biyomon?" he asked.

"Too much energy!" Biyomon moaned, "Does anyone wanna race? I bet I can beat ya!"

Tai sighed, "Consider decaf."

"That's what I told her," Vanessa said. She held her hand out and said, "Nice to meet ya, Tai. I'm Vanessa."

"Hi," Tai suffered her hard handshake like everyone else had, "Do you have your Digimon?"

"Not yet," Vanessa said.

"After you get a little more rest," Gennai said, "You'll all have to go and help her find Kittimon, her Digimon."

"Right," Tai said. He asked Gennai, "Do you have any aspirin?"

***

"What if I can't do this job, Nessimon?" Levia asked, once she was back in her room, "It sounds awfully dangerous…."

"You haven't even started yet," Nessimon pointed out, "You can't give up now."

"You're right," Levia admitted.

Someone knocked on he door, and her mom yelled at her to answer it. She walked through the house and into the living room. She opened the door and saw Joe. He handed her tag and crest.

"Uh, thanks," she said.

"Why don't you come over to Izzy's and meet the others?" he asked, "Bring Nessimon with you."

"Okay," she said, "I'll go get her." She went back to her room and came back without Nessimon. She explained, "She's gonna go down the fire escape."

"That works," Joe said.

"Hey, mom," Levia said, "I'm gonna go to a friend's house."

"Be back by dinnertime," her mom reminded.

"Okay," she walked out and closed the door. Joe followed her down the steps and into the ally that her window looked onto. 

The clumsy blue Digimon flopped out of her window and looked down nervously.

"Jump, I'll catch you," Levia opened her arms. Nessimon wiggled through the bars and leaped the best she could. She hit Levia in the chest and pushed her into Joe. They ended up as a tangled heap. Levia got up, put Nessimon down, helped Joe up, and said, "Sorry. Is everyone okay?"

"I am," Joe assured.

"Me too," Nessimon said.

"Gomamon?" Joe asked his bag.

"Ow…" the bag responded.

Joe unzipped it to check on Gomamon, who was rubbing his head. He asked, "Can you squeeze into one side of the bag? Unless there's another way to hide Nessimon, she's gonna have to fit in there with you."

"What?" Gomamon demanded, "This bag's only so big, you know."

"Scoot over," Joe sat the bag down and shoved Gomamon over to the side, "She's not any bigger than you. In fact, she's a little smaller."

Gomamon grumbled as Joe placed Nessimon in the remainder if the bag. She looked a bit uncomfortable. She was facing away from Gomamon, but she had to curl her head around and down to fit in the bag, so she ended up looking at him. He was staring straight at the blue polyester of the bag with a dirty look that could melt through solid reinforced titanium.

__

This isn't a very good first impression, she thought. She smiled hopefully in an attempt to cheer him up. He saw her smile out of the corner of his eyes, and it somehow melted his angry expression. They felt Joe start to walk.

"Nice to meet you," Gomamon whispered, "I'm Gomamon."

"Hi," Nessimon whispered cheerfully. They shook flippers.

"Rrrowwwrrr!"

"What's that?!" Gomamon demanded.

"You don't want to know…" Nessimon whimpered.

"Who are you?!" Joe demanded. He opened the bag. Gomamon stuck his head out, but Nessimon stayed low.

Gomamon gasped, "That's Tigressamon! She's an evil Ultimate-level Digimon with a fiery attitude. With her tail, claws, teeth, knuckles, and anything else she can get a hold of, she's like a walking arsenal."

"I take it you want a fight," Joe said.

"Yeah, I do," Tigressamon said silkily. She lied, "but my orders were to try to not fight. Just give me Nessimon and I'll be on my way."

"Nessimon?" Joe asked, "I haven't heard of that Digimon."

"You don't think much of me, do you?" Tigressamon asked snidely.

"Nope," Gomamon said.

Tigressamon growled. She sniffed the air. As her ears twitched, Gomamon realized that she'd heard Nessimon whimpering. Her hard green laser-like eyes focused on the bag.

"What are you looking at?" Gomamon asked.

Tigressamon stood perfectly still for a few drawn-out seconds. With a single quick propulsion of her ankle, she practically flew at Joe. Within her movement, she stuck her arm out and rammed Joe in the chest with her elbow. She knocked him down and left both Digimon tumbling out of the bag.

"Pathetic," she laughed. She somersaulted over Joe and Gomamon and snatched Nessimon up off the ground. 

"Put me down!" Nessimon squealed.

"In your dreams, squirt," Tigressamon said and held Nessimon by her tail. She flailed her head and flippers in vain.

"Leave her alone," Levia pleaded.

"Put her down!" Gomamon screamed. 

Tigressamon seemed amused.

"Put her down!" Gomamon repeated louder, "Marching Fishes!"

The top of a nearby manhole flew off, and tons of Gomamon's brightly-colored fish friends leaped out and tackled Tigressamon. She waved her free arm at them like they were flies. They didn't stand a chance. Gomamon glared at the dangling Nessimon.

He screamed, "I said MARCHING FISHES!"

Both his volume and consistency surprised everyone, but Tigressamon laughed. Her laugh was cut short when she spotted the new wave of marching fish, which contained about five times as many fish as the first assault.

"Yahh!" she grumbled as they slammed into her several at a time.

"FISH NET!" Gomamon screamed.

The fish coated their target and kept her smothered. In the confusion that they caused, Gomamon leaped up and bit Tigressamon's wrist. Her hand opened and Nessimon fell and hopped out of the way.

"Hiya!" Tigressamon cried as she flung her arms out and knocked all the fish aside. She growled threateningly at Gomamon.

"Gomamon digivolve to… Ikkakumon!" he cried. It only took a few seconds to realize his mistake. In the tiny ally, Ikkakumon was too big to move. Nessimon managed to avoid his bulk, but Joe and Levia were pressed against the wall.

"Amateur," Tigressamon laughed. She cried, "Fire Bash!" Her flaming tail whacked Ikkakumon hard in the nose. He roared in pain and de-digivolved. Tigressamon picked Nessimon back up by the scruff of her neck. Nessimon had her eyes closed and was straining her muscles.

"Gomamon, are you okay?" Joe demanded.

"Leave her alone," Levia lunged toward Tigressamon, but Joe pulled her back in time for her to avoid being sliced apart by the Digimon's claws. She squeaked as she saw the last eighth-inch of her bangs float down in front of her eyes after it was sliced away.

"Levia!" Nessimon's eyes snapped open. She began to glow as she yelled, "Nessimon digivolve to…Pasthamon!"

"Pasthamon?" Levia wondered. 

Tigressamon dropped her due to her sudden increase in weight. Pasthamon looked a lot like Nessimon, but she was bigger. She had a fin on the back of her head and a ridge down her spin that ended about halfway down her longer more flexible tail. She was still bulky, but she seemed more slender in comparison.

"Water Blast!" she called. She threw her head back and lunged it forward as much as possible. On the forward thrust, she let out countless gallons of water and waves of bubbles from her mouth that hit Tigressamon in the stomach and knock her down.

Tigressamon was up instantly. She yelled, "Fire Bash!" and hit Pasthamon hard enough to knock her against the ally's back wall. She figured that Gomamon was too weak to fight, so he caught her off guard and closed his teeth around her tail just below the mallet. 

"Argh!" she screamed. She lashed her tail around in a grueling attempt to throw him off. She swung him close to he face and opened her iron-like jaws to bite. He delivered an incredibly tough smack to her nose to ward her teeth away.

"Yahh!" Pasthamon screamed. She flopped toward Tigressamon from behind and jumped into her back. Her weight knocked and pinned the feline on her stomach. 

Despite Gomamon being latched onto her tail, she started to use her Fire Bash attack on Pasthamon.

"Water Blast!" Pasthamon cried as the mallet advanced on her. It extinguished the fire on the mallet, but Gomamon used himself to cushion its impact on her. As Tigressamon pulled her tail up for another blow, Gomamon tightened his jaws. The mallet glowed a faint reddish but didn't burn. She tried to hit Pasthamon with her tail, but her target rolled out of the way and caused her to hit herself in the back. She yowled. Gomamon let go.

"Fish Power!" he cried.

The fish appeared and tackled Tigressamon again. She swatted them away and was hit by Pasthamon's Water Blast attack while she was distracted. Pasthamon was immediately knocked into the wall again.

"YAHH!" Gomamon cried out. He leaped up and clamped down on the top of her muzzle. She screeched again and slashed at him with her claws. He yelped in pain as four red lines appeared across his side. He fell to the ground.

"Gomamon!" Joe called worryingly.

"Fire Bash!" Tigressamon exclaimed, ready to pound the injured Digimon. Her mallet still wouldn't ignite, but she went to hit him anyway. 

"Water Blast!" Pasthamon called, having recovered.

"@#%*$!" Tigressamon cried as she was knocked onto Gomamon. She kicked blindly and caught Pasthamon under the chin. 

"Take this!" Gomamon said before her bit into her shoulder. He wiggled out from underneath her, and Pasthamon jumped on her back. She pinned her tail down against her back and her arms underneath her in the process.

"We'll teach you to mess with us!" Pasthamon declared. She Water Blasted the back of Tigressamon's head, thus causing her to sputter and gasp for breath. Gomamon repeatedly ripped at her face with his teeth. He slapped her furiously with his front flippers. As Pasthamon grabbed Tigressamon's hair in her mouth and began pulling, Joe and Levia got big sweat drops.

"Digimon seem to be very violent creatures…" Levia murmured nervously.

"I…I've never seen Gomamon fight like this…" Joe said, "He's…he's…. He's just totally covered in blood…."

Gomamon wasn't totally covered, but his left side and the bottom half of his face would be red for weeks to come and pink for at least a year. He latched his teeth onto Tigressamon's ear and pulled.

"Yahh!" Tigressamon cried. She managed to push with her arms enough to knock Pasthamon away and stand. Gomamon was dangling from her ear, so she bit his back flipper and pulled him off. 

He landed and scampered to the left of her. Pasthamon advanced slowly on her right. They were both very bloody, but a lot of the blood was hers. She glared at Joe and Levia, who were in front of her.

__

This was a mission to grab Levia, Tigressamon thought. _How did a couple of Rookies stop me?!_ She hesitated, then said, "Don't think you'll get away this easily."

Gomamon and Pasthamon prepared themselves for her attack, but she leaped over Pasthamon and used her claws to climb up the building and out of sight.

"Come back here, coward!" Gomamon cried. He ran past Pasthamon and tried to jump up the wall himself. 

Needless to say, he didn't come close, but he kept trying anyway.

"Oh," Pasthamon moaned. She de-digivolved back to Nessimon.

"Are you okay?" Gomamon asked and stopped trying to climb the wall.

"Uh-huh," Nessimon nodded weakly, "I knew I should have asked for more food."

"We'll get you some food," Levia said. She picked Nessimon up and held her. There was a snapping sound and net fell from above. It was just large enough to swallow up Nessimon. The weights on the corners swung beneath her and wrapped around each other. Nessimon squealed.

"Hey!" Levia cried as her hands and Nessimon were caught. The rope attached to the net began to pull it and Nessimon up. Her hands were caught, so Levia began to get pulled up too.

"Nessimon!" Gomamon cried. Joe grabbed the back of Levia's shirt and pulled her down. Her hands slipped through the net, and she fell to the ground. Nessimon continued being pulled up.

When she was at the top of the building, a big clawed hand picked her up. The hand's owner looked down and laughed.

"What is that, Gomamon?" Joe asked.

"That's Megamonochromon," Gomamon said, "His specialty is brute force, not agility or stealth."

"_Mega_monochromon?" Joe asked, "I knew he looked familiar."

Megamonochromon looked like Monochromon, but it stood on two legs and was coated in metal armor.

"Give her back!" Gomamon screamed. He went back to trying to run up the wall. He got a little higher this time, but it was still no good.

"Oh, Nessimon!" Levia cried.

Joe caught Gomamon as he fell down from one of his many failing wall-climbing attempts. He thrashed around in an struggle to keep climbing. 

Megamonochromon laughed again and opened up a pair of jet-like wings from his back. He flew away with the netted Nessimon in one hand and the bloody unconscious-looking Tigressamon by her waist in the other arm.

"Come on!" Gomamon cried, "We can catch 'em! Tigressamon's leaving a trail!"

"What are you, a bloodhound?!" Joe demanded, "We have to get the others together, or we won't stand a chance. It would just be you, and you're too tired."

"No, I'm not!" Gomamon exclaimed, "I'm not tired! We gotta save Nessimon!"

"Get in the bag!" Joe ordered and shoved the thrashing Digimon into it.

"Let me out!" came Gomamon's muffled voice. He thrashed around in the bag.

"Loyal, aren't they?" Levia said.

"Yeah," Joe said.

****

Chapter 16

"Okay, let's get going everyone!" Tai exclaimed as he very cautiously put his goggles back on over his bandage.

Agumon came in the room. He asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yep!" Tai said cheerfully. He jumped out of the bed and cringed in pain as his left leg almost collapsed beneath him. He stood up and grinned.

Agumon looked concerned, but he said, "Well, if you're sure…."

Sora and Biyomon came in. Sora said, "If you're okay, then let's go."

"I've never felt better!" Tai insisted, "Come on let's go everybody!"

Mimi, Kari, and their Digimon came in. Salamon wordlessly digivolved to Gatomon.

"Where's Vanessa?" Agumon asked.

Vanessa was in another room talking to Gennai.

"You never told me how to make this thing light up," she said, holding up her crest, "Is it battery powered or what?"

"'What,'" Gennai informed, "It's a long process…."

"How do I start?" Vanessa asked.

"You can return those crystal statuettes that were on my table," Gennai held his hand out.

Vanessa blushed and returned the two figurines that were in her pocket. Gennai waited. She returned the other two.

"Remember that friendship is your key," Gennai said, "The others are about to leave and help you find Kittimon. They're waiting for you, go catch up with them."

Vanessa nodded and quickly left the room. She said, "I'm ready to go!" as everyone exited the guestroom. 

"Great," Tai said, "Come on." He opened the front door and walked out. The water was already separated. 

The five humans and four Digimon walked up the stairs. Once on shore, Tai looked around uncertainly. The lake closed back up.

"Well, Vanessa," Tai said, "Kittimon is your Digimon, so why don't you pick a direction?"

"I don't know where the little kitty thing is," Vanessa said.

"And neither do the rest of us," Tai pointed out, "Your guess is just as good as the rest of ours. If you're wrong, we'll go another way."

"Hey, Biyomon," Sora said to Biyomon, who was still hyperactively flying in circles, "How did you find me when we all came to the DigiWorld for the first time?"

"I don't know," Biyomon said, "It was a hunch. I just kinda had an instinct that told me where you were."

"So Kittimon will probably be able to find me?" Vanessa asked.

"Yep," Agumon said, "But we'd better try to find her too."

"How about…north?" Vanessa asked.

"That's where the Yokomon Village is," Biyomon said, "Maybe they can help."

"Isn't the Yokomon Village on File Island?" Tai asked.

"I don't know."

"This world is tricky," Mimi said.

"Let's get going," Tai said. He took a compass out of his pocket.

"Yokomon?" Vanessa wondered as the group began to walk north, "That sounds familiar…."

"The last time we had a new person in the group," Tai said, "she recognized Koromon."

"Koromon sounds familiar too," Vanessa said.

It took them an hour to reach the village. The Yokomon were exited to see them and even offered them lunch.

"Sorry," Biyomon told them, "but we're in hurry. Have you heard of a Digimon called Kittimon?"

"Kittimon?" one Yokomon asked, "No."

"I have," said a second Yokomon, "There's a little village of them in the forest."

"That'd be a good place to look," Kari said.

"Thanks, guys," Biyomon said to her friends.

"No problem," the second Yokomon said.

"We're gonna have to cross that desert, aren't we?" Mimi asked.

"There's nothing to worry about," Sora said, "Biyomon? Can you digivolve and carry us there?"

"No problem!" Biyomon said, "Biyomon, digivolve to… Birdramon!"

"Ooh," all the Yokomon murmured.

"Birdramon digivolve to… Garudamon!"

"You didn't have to digivolve again, Garudamon," Sora said.

"Show-off," Agumon said as he observed the Yokomon's sparkling eyes. 

Garudamon carried them quickly over the desert and de-digivolved to Biyomon after landing.

"I still don't get the deal with these road signs," Mimi said.

"It's just one of those things," Palmon said.

"Road signs?" Vanessa asked. She spotted the road signs scattered aimlessly around and gasped.

"What is it?" Kari asked.

"This is the Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs?" Vanessa asked.

"That's what Matt called it," Sora said.

"Hmm," Vanessa mumbled thoughtfully.

"Tai?"

"Huh?" Tai and the others turned around. They saw Gennai's hologram behind them. Tai asked, "Yeah, Gennai?"

"You're all needed in the Real World," Gennai said, "I'll work on finding Kittimon. In the meantime, come back to my house. My portal machine is fixed, so I can send you back to Izzy's."

"Right," Tai said. Gennai's hologram vanished, and Biyomon digivolved all the way to Garudamon. She carried everyone back to the lake. She de-digivolved to Biyomon as everyone walked down the path.

"I have the portal ready," Gennai said when everyone was assembled in his front yard. He opened his front door and looked at a machine that was exactly like the one that lined the door of Izzy's closet. He pushed the button and said, "I'll see you all later."

"Bye," Tai said. He walked into the blue stuff. Agumon and the others followed. Despite her confusion, Vanessa followed too.

****

Chapter 17

The little beige-yellow Digimon that had helped Vanessa escape Cunnimon's castle clumsily climbed a tree by way of the bent-up post belonging to a 'right only' sign. She walked along the branch until it forked. On the fork was a post-less stop sign with a pile of leaves on it. The top leaf was big enough to hid the little Digimon, who lifted it up, laid on the rest of the leaves, and covered herself with it.

She felt something land on the branch near her and said, "What do you want?"

"If I didn't know better," an unfamiliar voice said, "I'd say you knew me."

"Huh?" the Digimon looked out past the tip of the leaf. 

The Digimon that was perched on the branch looked rather baneful. She said, "You look bummed out. What's wrong?"

"Why should I tell you?!" the little Digimon demanded and stood ready.

"Why shouldn't you?"

"Because you're Ladydemidevimon! You're an evil Digimon! Go away or else!"

"Else," Ladydemidevimon chose, "What makes you think I'm evil? You really shouldn't listen to rumors ya know." She looked a lot like Demidevimon, but the black thing that covered the top of her head didn't have stitches in it. Her fangs were visibly larger, and her eyes had a feminine look. She looked a bit more intelligent too.

"I know that you're as bad as Demidevimon," the little Digimon said.

"_Now_ I'm insulted," Ladydemidevimon said, "Who told you that? I resent being compared to that idiotic immoral little runt."

"Hmph!"

"Come on," Ladydemidevimon prodded, "Tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can give you advice."

"I don't want advice from the likes of you."

"If you let me give you advice, _then_ you can decide whether or not to take it. Come on, what's up?"

"I…" the little Digimon said, "Well, I was kinda supposed to…."

Ladydemidevimon waited politely.

"I was supposed to be fated to help the DigiDestined of Integrity… but she made me come back home…. She just doesn't like me, and I don't know what to do."

"She was awfully mean!" Ladydemidevimon exclaimed, "She made you feel miserable, didn't she? If I were you, I'd gather a few of my buddies together and get back at her. You'd have to do it before she hooked up with the rest of the Digi-brats though. If you want, I could help y—" 

Ladydemidevimon was cut of as a trio of large pink bubbles exploded in her face. She cringed in pain and started to yell at the little Digimon, but she spoke first.

"Look, Ladydemidevimon," the little Digimon said, "You're either working for Cunnimon, or you're the _stupidest_ creature on the face of the DigiWorld! You'd have to be to think I'd ever hurt my partner-to-be! Even if you're a dork, I'm not!"

Ladydemidevimon lost her casual lying. She took flight, yelling, "Shadow Soar!" She jerked her wings and shot a bat-shaped shadow at the little Digimon. 

She was knocked off the stop sign and onto the branch. She flinched in pain. She spit a few more bubbles, but Ladydemidevimon dodged them.

The evil Digimon began, "Shadow S—!"

"Feather Ice!"

"Yahh!" Ladydemidevimon cried as she was hit by six small pieces of ice that were carved into sharp-edged feathers and were shot from her right like bullets. The little Digimon sat up and beamed.

"Prisma Whack!"

Ladydemidevimon screeched again as a rainbow-colored beam hit her from the left. A shower of pink bubbles came from below. She cried, "Little brats!" 

She looked down and saw a three-foot tall Digimon that looked like a small silvery-blue horse with a pearly-colored mane and tail. It had a carapace shell on its back that was shaped like a natural saddle. It looked like a creature that would possess effortless grace and extreme strength, yet that prowess was masked by the look of a child's clumsiness and inexperience. 

To her right was a four-inch-high bluish bird. It had lavender chest, crest, shoulders, and wingtips. It had lavender feathers on the back of its head and small twinkling black eyes. 

To her left was a rodent-like Digimon that looked like a golden-furred flying squirrel. It had pointy ears, black eyes like the bird, and three bushy tails. One tail was gold like the rest of its fur, while the other two were red and blue. Despite flying squirrels in the Real World not really being able to fly, this Digimon hovered in midair.

"Everyone now!" the little bird Digimon said. He repeated his Feather Ice attack while the squirrel used Prisma Whack and the horse and the first little Digimon spit bubbles. They all aimed at Ladydemidevimon. She managed to dodge by millimeters, but the impact of the attacks blasted her out of view.

"Are you okay, Kittimon?" the horse asked.

"Yeah," the little Digimon said, "Thanks to you guys." She slithered back under her leaf. The bird landed beside her.

"It was no problem," he said, "Was that true what you told Ladydemidevimon? Did you really find Vanessa and get turned away?"

"Yeah," Kittimon said sadly.

"Maybe we can help you," the squirrel said, "If we could find her in the Real World, maybe you could explain why you have to be with her."

"How would we get to the Real World?" Kittimon asked.

"Let's go to the lake," the horse said, "Maybe we can find out there."

Kittimon smiled.

****

Chapter 18

The bird, Kittimon, and the hovering squirrel were sitting on the horse's back as he ran across the desert. They stopped at the Yokomon village for lunch and continued south.

***

"Well," Gennai thought to himself, "I haven't found Kittimon, but I did find the Crest of Persistence. That's a plus." He was standing on his front lawn. There was a sort of semi-sphere shape holding the water back without opening the path to the shore. Gennai sighed and opened a bag of microwave popcorn that was already popped. He took a handful of popcorn and threw it at the wall of water. 

The halibut greedily gobbled it up and looked hungrily at the bag while they waited for the next handful. Suddenly the path to the shore opened. Gennai looked at it suspiciously.

***

"Should we go down there?" Kittimon asked from the top of the path.

"I suppose," the bird said. The horse galloped tiredly down the stairs and stumbled onto Gennai's lawn.

"Are you okay, buddy?" the squirrel asked. The horse nodded.

"Kittimon?" Gennai asked, surprising the four Digimon, "I'm glad you're here."

***

"Yahh!" Tai cried as he landed face-down on Izzy's bedroom floor. Sora, Vanessa, Agumon, Biyomon, Mimi, Palmon, Kari, and then Gatomon landed on top of him in a big pile.

"Hi, guys," T.K. said. He, Matt, Izzy, and their Digimon looked surprised to see them fly from the closet so suddenly.

"I'm glad you're here," Izzy said as everyone got up a few at a time, "Joe and Levia need our help."

"Levia?" Tai asked, still lying on the floor.

"She's one of the new girls," Izzy explained.

"First things first," Tai said, "While I try to get up, why don't you all introduce yourselves to Vanessa?"

"Oh, sorry," Izzy said, extending his hand to Vanessa, "I'm Izzy. It's nice to meet you."

"Hi, Izzy," Vanessa said. She edged back uneasily after shaking his hand the exact same way she had with Kari. She shook T.K.'s hand hard too, but didn't seem to do so to Matt.

"Hi, I'm Tsunomon. I'd shake your hand too, but I don't have hands."

"Hi, I'm Tentomon."

"I'm Patamon. How are you?"

"Just peachy," Vanessa answered.

"Are you sure you're okay, Tai?" Sora asked Tai, who was still trying to get up. She pulled him to his knees by his shirt.

"I don't think I broke any bones," Tai said painfully and struggled to stand.

"We really need to hurry to Joe's," Matt urged, "He said it was an emergency. Levia's Digimon was kidnapped."

"Ok," Tai said, "Let's go."

Izzy led everyone down the hall. He asked his dad, "Can I go to Joe's house?"

"Sure," his dad said.

"Thanks," Izzy said. 

As they all approached the door, his mom, who was holding a basket of laundry, asked, "Didn't half of these people leave?"

"Yeah, they came back," Izzy said, only to confuse her more, "Bye."

"Are you okay?" she asked Tai, who was being helped along by Sora.

"I will be," Tai said, "Don't worry."

"Okay, bye," Izzy's mom said, feeling defeated.

***

When the group arrived at Joe's and knocked, they heard him holler to come in. They followed the sounds of, "Hey, Joe! Stop it!" to find where he was. He was in the bathroom and sitting on the edge of the bathtub. Levia was standing next to him.

"What are you doing, Joe?" Tai asked. He was walking easily by himself now.

"Make him stop!" Gomamon cried from beneath the mountain of suds in the tub.

"I'm giving Gomamon a bath," Joe said as he scrubbed the Digimon, "If I don't he'll smell forever."

"I'm allergic to soap!" Gomamon protested while accidentally getting suds in his mouth. He quickly spit them out.

"I'm allergic to blood," Joe said.

Levia muttered, "And I'm allergic to my lunch when I've already eaten it and then see it again…."

"So what's the plan?" Joe asked as he drained the tub and dumped clean water on Gomamon.

Tai looked in disgust at the red swirls that ran down the drain and asked, "Do you have any info for us, Izzy?"

"Gennai sent us a map of the city," Izzy said and handed it to Tai, "The five red dots indicate possible places for Nessimon. I don't know how Gennai narrowed it down, but I'm glad he did. Since there are ten of us, it seems logical to go in groups of two."

"Hmm," Tai thought, "There's the bay, the museum, that one daycare place, the TV station, and dance club…. What are Nessimon's special abilities?"

"Not much because she's an In-Training level," Joe said as he poured mouthwash into Gomamon's mouth, "Swish. But she can Digivolve to Pasthamon and use an attack called Water Blast. I think she can swim in both forms. Spit it out, Gomamon."

Gomamon spit the mouthwash into the tub's drain.

"Well," Tai said, "Here's what we do…."

***

"'Pretty Chick?'" Izzy asked.

"Who came up with that name?" T.K. demanded.

"It could be a bit offensive to the boys, huh?" Mimi said.

"No kidding," T.K. said, "This is the kind of place you get beat up for at."

"Don't worry, T.K.," Patamon whispered, "I protect you."

"Shh," T.K. said, "You're a stuffed animal."

They were looking up at a brick building. The windows and door were rounded on top and were made of spotless glass with gold trim. The picture of baby chickens on the sign added to the accused senselessness of the place.

"Let's just go in and do what we have to do," Kari urged.

"Okay," T.K. sighed.

The four of them walked inside. The red-haired woman with glasses at the desk looked at them like they were selling something she didn't want or need. She asked, "May I help you, children?"

"Yes. I'd like to leave my cute adorable well-behaved little cousins here for the day," Mimi said. She pushed Kari and T.K. forward a little. Kari elbowed T.K. in the arm to make him force a smile.

"Can I get you a membership card?" the lady asked.

"No, they'll only be here one day," Mimi said.

"We need fourteen dollars," the lady said and handed a clipboard to Mimi, "Please fill out this form."

Mimi filled the form out, and Izzy handed the lady fourteen dollars. The lady took it but looked disgusted in the process. She put the money in her desk drawer. 

"Go on in," the lady said to T.K. and Kari. 

"Remember to be careful with those stuffed animals," Mimi reminded as she herded them through the door, "Your moms don't want them to get messed up, and they're fragile."

"Uh-huh," T.K. mumbled. He grabbed the doorframe and wouldn't budge. Kari pulled on his sleeve and tried to pull him through the door, but she didn't want to make him drop Patamon.

"Fine stay here," Kari said, adding, "Chicken," just loudly enough for him to hear. T.K. changed his mind and followed her through the door. 

"Come on, let's go," Mimi said, ushering Izzy through the door. After walking a ways down the street, Mimi said, "You know, I don't think I blend in very well at a museum."

"Well, if anyone asks," Palmon said, "just tell them Izzy dragged you there in hope that you would learn something."

"Hey!" Mimi exclaimed.

Izzy cleared his throat to keep from laughing. Mimi grumbled.

***

Birdramon, who carried Sora, Tai, and Agumon, landed on the roof of the TV station a de-digivolved to Biyomon. Sora gasped.

"What? What is it?" Tai asked anxiously.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sora demanded. She walked over toward one of the air conditioners and picked up something round and black.

"No way!" Tai said after he and the Digimon went over to her.

"That's a black gear!" Agumon said.

"Maybe it's a different kind of gear," Biyomon said hopefully.

"I hope so," Sora said.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon said and spit a fireball at it. Sora quickly pulled her hand away, and the gear dissolved under the blast.

"Be careful, Agumon," Tai said, "You almost fried Sora's hand."

"Sorry," Agumon said.

"That's okay," Sora said kindly, "but normal gears don't dissolve like that."

"I thought the black gear era was over," Tai said miserably.

"Guess not," Sora said.

"Well, let's go in and look around," Tai said. He turned and started toward the roof entrance of the building.

"Hey, wait, Tai," Sora said. She took Tai's shoulder and pulled him back toward her. She started to say something else but was interrupted by something whitish flying through the air through where Tai had been before she pulled him back. It splattered into the air conditioner and froze it solid.

"Woah, what was that?!" Tai demanded as someone came around from the other side of an un-frozen air conditioner from were the whitish blast had come from.

"Who's that lady?" Sora asked.

"That's no human," Biyomon informed as she took flight. The person looked like a young woman or an older teenager. She had short icy-blue hair and pained-looking dark blue eyes. She wore a short tight sleeveless neon-red-orange dress, along with long gloves and thigh-high boots that were a light grayish-blue.

"Is she a Digimon?" Tai asked.

"Yep," Agumon said, "She's Chyllmon—one of the seven fully-digivolved wizard Digimon. Her specialty is ice, and she's supposed to be a good Digimon. Considering we saw that black gear a minute ago, I doubt she was just checking your reflexes."

"Frost Beam!" Chyllmon exclaimed. She flung her arms toward Tai and Sora and sent a trio of icicles at them. They and their Digimon ducked. The icicles hit the ground behind them and froze it like the first one had done to the air conditioner.

"You two are fire," Sora pointed out, "Maybe you can melt her attacks."

"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!" 

"Nova Blast!" Greymon cried.

"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon exclaimed.

Chyllmon somersaulted to avoid both attacks. She used her attack on both of them. The impact of the attack hurt them more than the ice. Greymon charged at her. Birdramon dived.

"Hiya!" she cried as she grabbed Greymon's horn and swung him into Birdramon. They were both knocked back and stuggled to stand back up.

"Greymon digivolve to…Metalgreymon!"

"Birdramon digivolve to…Garudamon!"

"Frost Beam!" Chyllmon cried. They knocked the icicles aside.

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon cried. The phoenix-like blast of red energy knock Chyllmon senseless.

"Giga Blaster!" Metalgreymon yelled. His missiles knocked her into the air. She screamed as their force pushed a black gear out of her back. She fell to her hands and knees while the gear flew up and disintegrated.

"Chyllmon, are you okay?" Sora asked kindly as Garudamon and Metalgreymon shrunk back to Biyomon and Agumon.

Chyllmon didn't say anything for a few seconds. She raised her head and murmured, "Yes…. Thank you…. I'm sorry…."

"That's okay," Tai said, "We know you couldn't help it."

"You're all…so kind," Chyllmon said weakly.

"We're glad you're alright," Biyomon said.

"Were you in the DigiWorld when you got hit with that gear?" Tai asked.

"Yes," Chyllmon said as she stood up, "I don't remember how I came to this world." 

"Have you seen a Digimon called Nessimon?" Sora asked.

Chyllmon thought, and said, "No, I'm sorry I can't help you." She gave a small bow of respect and said, "Thank you for what you have done…I must go now, goodbye."

"Okay," Sora said, "Bye."

Chyllmon walked calmly over to the edge of the roof and stepped off.

"Hey," Tai said, "That's a nine-story drop."

Biyomon fluttered over and looked down. Looking confused, she said, "She's gone. She's just not there."

Tai and Sora looked at each other in confusion and shrugged. After a moment, Tai asked, "Hey, Sora? How did you know she was firing at me?"

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Actually I didn't," she admitted, "I pulled you back to tell you to be careful. I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Oh. We should check the rest of the station," Tai said. He smiled and added, "And don't worry, I'll be careful."

****

Chapter 19

"So far, there's nothing here," Joe observed. He, Gomamon, and Levia were on the narrow cement walkway that circled the bay. They were under the end of the drawbridge, which was currently opened.

"Keep looking," Gomamon urged.

"We will," Joe snapped, "Don't get your ears in a knot."

"I think I heard something…" Levia said uneasily.

"Really?" Joe asked, "What was it?"

"I don't know," Levia said.

"Air Blast!"

"Huh?" everyone looked up in time to see three lavender-colored crescent shapes. The crescents were spinning like glowing boomerangs and zooming toward them.

"Move!" Joe cried. The three of them jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the crescents, which made deep grooves in the cement.

"Who's that?" Levia asked as a human-like Digimon similar to Chyllyimon jump over the safety rail above and land before them. She had a silver tiara that was more like armor than jewelry, and most of it was covered by her long purple hair. Her bright cerulean eyes had an angry look. She wore a purple and lavender dress with a split skirt, long silvery gloves, and tiny purple shoes. Her hair and skirt appeared to billow in the breeze, although there wasn't any wind. She had a wand-like item with a scythe on the end which she swung to use her attack. 

"That's a Digimon," Gomamon said, "She's Scymon—one of the legendary wizard Digimon that sets the winds free. She's fully-digivolved and very agile. She's a good Digimon though."

"But didn't she just—?" Levia began.

"Air Blast!" Scymon cried. Joe, Levia, and Gomamon ducked to avoid her flying scythes. 

***

"I think I'm going to hurl," TK muttered.

"Stop whining and sing," Kari responded as the group of kids of all ages joined in Barney's "I Love You" song.

After the song was over, the kids were dismissed to play with the toys around the room. TK and Kari took Patamon and Gatomon and stayed by themselves in the corner of the room. They passed the time by attempting to make statues of their Digimon with Legos.

"I check all the stuffed animals," Kari sighed, "I don't see how they've hidden Nessimon here. If she is here, all we can do is wait."

"What about that door marked, 'Staff Only'?" TK asked. Kari started to answer, but, ironically enough, something burst through the door, sending white-painted splinters everywhere.

The kids and daycare attendants screamed and rushed toward the far corner of the room, which happened to be the corner TK and Kari were in. 


End file.
